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THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 




From the painting by J. M. H. Hofmanu 

THE BOY CHRIST 



THE BOYS' LIFE OF 
CHRIST 



By 

WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH 

Author of "The Boy Problem," The Travel 

Lessons on the Life of Jesus, ' ' 

etc. 



WITH EIGHT HALF-TONE 
ILLUSTRATIONS 




FUNK y WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 
1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDifs Received 

DEC 6 1905 

Co j)y right Entry 
CLASS d, XXc. No. 

/ 3 3 ¥^ 

COPY B, 



BT3oa 



Copyright, 1905, by 
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

[Printed in the United States of America] 
Published, December, 1905 






to - 

4 

^ TO MY THREE BOYS 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A Word to Boys 11 

A Word to Older People 13 

I. A Boy from Nowhere 17 

II. School Days Long Ago and Far Away 31 

III. A Camping Tour in the Mountains- • . 36 

IV. Three Days at College 44 

V. The Village Carpenter 51 

VI. A Voice from the Desert 61 

VII. A Battle Royal 66 

VIII. New Comrades 74 

IX. A Wellside Dialog 89 

X. A Summer of Sunshine 95 

XI. A Family of Brothers ' 113 

XII. The Martyred Hero 123 

XIII. Rejected 132 

XIV. The Men He Might Have Had 140 

XV. The King Is Seen in His Glory 150 

XVI. Nearing the Holy City 162 

XVII. The Heirs of His Kingdom 179 

XVIII. Three Whom Jesus Loved 187 

XIX. The Triumphal Procession 199 

XX. In the Den of the Wolves 207 

XXI. A Feast for Remembrance 217 

XXII. What Happened in the Olive Orchard 232 

XXIII. The King Stands Before Kings 236 



! 
Tiii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XXIV. The King Dies for His People 351 ; 

XXV. The Morning of His Kingdom 258 j 

Notes 267 I 

The Leading Events in the Life of 

Jesus 305 

Index., r :.. 309 \ 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Boy Christ Frontispiece 

From the painting by J. M. H. Hoftnann 

The Finding of the Savior in the Temple 

Opposite page 50 v 
From the painting by Holman Hunt 

The Shadow of Death Opposite page 58^ 

From the painting by Holman Hunt 

Jesus Cleansing the Temple Opposite page 86 v 

From the drawing by J. M. H. Hofmann 

Jesus Healing the Sick Opposite page 112 " 

From the painting by Albert Zimmermann 

Christ Washing Peter's Feet. . . -Opposite page 224 
From the painting by Ford Madox Brown 

Golgotha. • Opposite page 256 

From the painting by Jean-L^on Gerome 

*'If Thou Seek Him " Opposite page 262 

From the painting by Ferdinand Pauwels 

Map of the Country Where Christ Lived 

Opposite page 267 



♦♦31f ijat lost $}im as a Wtoti^tti toe 
cannot Utl ^^im as a S>at)tor," 

Frederick W. Robertson 



A WORD TO BOYS 

When you pick up this book your first 
thought may be: ^^Oh, I know all this: I 
have been taught it ever since I was a child. ' ' 

But stop! Do you really know all about 
Jesus Christ ? Do you know what he did when 
he was your age and what kind of home he 
had? Do you know how he lived when he 
spent all his time out of doors with his twelve 
friends, what were his habits and his pleas- 
ures, and what was the plan of his life ? You 
know some of these things about Napoleon 
and Washington and Lincoln. Do you know 
them about Jesus? 

Then, too, while you have heard that Jesus 
Christ is the greatest Figure in history, do 
you know this of your own knowledge ? You 
have read of heroes in Grecian history, in 
English history, in the history of our own 
country. Have you ever thought of Jesus as a 
hero,— the greatest of all heroes? Do you 
know just why He was a hero ? 

This book deals simply with Jesus as the 
boy's hero. 

If you like the story of Jesus' life as told 
in this book, you will surely be interested in 
another story of the same life. It was written, 
nearly 2,000 years ago, by one who had it 
from the lips of one of Jesus ' closest friends, 



12 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

the Apostle Peter. The author's name is 
John Mark, and his story of the life is called 
^^The Gospel according to Saint Mark." Let 
me suggest that yon do something that proba- 
bly yon have never tried : sit down and read 
Saint Mark's story of the life of Jesns. It 
is not very long. You can do it at one sitting 
in less than an hour. I am sure yon will be 
repaid by it. 



A WORD TO OLDER PEOPLE 

This book is a painting, rather than a pho- 
tograph. That is, it has both background and 
foreground. What is left in the background 
is put there not for concealment, but only so 
that the high lights may seem more intense. 

There are many things therefore which 
this book does not try to do. It does not 
try to tell everything Jesus said and did. 
It does not touch the theology or the phi- 
losophy of Jesus' life. It does endeavor 
to show the manly, heroic, chivalric, in- 
tensely real and vigorously active qualities 
of Jesus in a way to appeal to boys. This is 
why it begins with the boyhood rather than 
with the babyhood of Jesus. Boys do not care 
for his teachings in detail. Of all their heroes 
they ask: ^^What did he dof^^ The miracu- 
lous is not emphasized, because it is more 
helpful to boys to think how much Jesus re- 
sembles themselves than how much he differs 
from them. Even with these limitations, I 
hope that this portrait is not without its halo. 
The purpose has been to make the readers 
see not only ''the highest, holiest manhood," 
but also the ''strong Son of God, immortal 
Love. ' ' 

The book was not easy to write. There was 
little opportunity for the element of surprise. 
The time and place are so far away that it 



14 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

was hard to make the book real and readable. 
It has not seemed best to introduce to any ex- 
tent the element of fiction. The treatment 
of some of the events is imaginative, though 
founded on careful Oriental study, and re- 
marks are introduced in the dialog of the peo- 
ple surrounding Jesus, which were the sub- 
stance of the talk of the time. This is a harm- 
less literary device. The words attributed to 
Jesus, however, are in almost every case those 
that have been recorded in the Gospels. And 
every act of Jesus is one related in the New 
Testament, except that in the opening chap- 
ters the silence of the Gospels upon his boy* 
hood is supplemented by a description of the 
childhood life of the time from the most trust- 
worthy sources. In this Jesus appears, I 
trust, in a character harmonious with our 
later knowledge of him. The pretty little in- 
cident at the close of the first chapter is from 
the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. Altho not 
every event of Jesus' life is mentioned, there 
is an endeavor to show its plan and order, a 
knowledge of which many of our children, 
with all our Sunday-school teaching, never 
attain. There is also a careful attempt to 
show, as far as my readers would care to 
know, how Jesus developed from boyhood to 
manhood. 

The book is designed for home reading by 
boys who are old enough to be thoughtful and 
intelligent. If Doctor Hale is right in saying 



A WORD TO OLDER PEOPLE 15 

that all girls like boys' books, while no boys 
like girls' books, this boys' book will, perhaps,, 
prove as interesting to girls as to boys. I 
have also thought it might be used for sup- 
plementary reading in the Sunday-school and 
young people's society. 

For the latter purpose it may be accom- 
panied by my ^^ Travel Lessons on the Life 
of Jesus." With this use in mind, the book 
is furnished with notes, ^ describing the scenes 
of the life of Jesus as they appear to-day and 
as they are illustrated in the ^^ Travel Les- 
sons. ' ' 

While the reading of many books has con- 
tributed to the preparation of this one, it has 
not seemed wise in a story-book to burden the 
pages with footnote acknowledgments. The 
author has been especially indebted in the gen- 
eral plan to Burton and Mathews, Stevens and 
Burton, Stalker and Sanday, and in interpre- 
tation and picturesqueness of detail, in various 
measure, to Dawson, Brough, Bosworth, Fair- 
bairn, Eenan, Farrar, and Edersheim. ' ' The 
Twentieth CenturyNew Testament "and ^^The 
New Testament in Braid Scots, ' ' by Wm. Wye 
Smith, have been found helpful in attempts to 
state the thought of Jesus in modern English. 

Wm. Byrok Forbush. 

The Madison Avenue Reformed Church, 

New York. 



* See Note 1. 



THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

I 

A BOY FROM NOWHERE 

^' Let's play ^ Wedding M " 

^^Oh, no." 

^^We'll be the pipers." 

^^No, we don't want to dance." 

^^Well, then, let's play ^Funeral,' and yon 
may be the chief monrners. ' ' 

^^We won't do it." 

It was a group of boys and girls, barefoot- 
ed, bnt dressed in bright colors. 

They lived in a far Eastern land. 

They were standing about idly, near the 
fountain, in the small square of a lonely little 
mountain village.* 

It was a holiday. The springtime sun was 
shining brightly. The square was a lively 
scene. Women in colored gowns, with jing- 
ling strings of coins around their foreheads 
and cheeks, were carrying their water- jars to 
the fountain. They were jostled by long- 
legged street dogs and by donkeys loaded with 
huge grain bags that hung across their backs. 
Men were chaffering loudly near by in the 
cattle market. 

The day was before the children, but, altho 

""^^SeTNote 5. 



18 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

weddings and funerals were about all the 
events that ever varied the life of their quiet 
town, this hot morning they all seemed to feel 
too lazy or too cross to begin to play. 

Just then the children heard a clear boyish 
soprano in the distance, and all turned eagerly 
in that direction. A slender but sturdy lad 
of about twelve, coming down the hill, walked 
singing around the corner. He was dressed 
in a long, close-fitting, striped blouse of brown 
and white, and he carried an empty water- jar 
on top of his white turban, beneath which 
tossed his curly locks. Flashing dark were 
his eyes. His smile was ever ready. 

As he bent over to fill his jar at the wide 
fountain that gushed out of the hill, he called 
to one of the lads, and asked him why they 
were not playing. 

^^The boys are too disagreeable," broke in 
a black-eyed girl before the one addressed had 
time to answer. 

^^Are the groomsmen still in mourning now 
that their bridegroom is with them?" laughed 
the boy at the well. For he was recognized 
as the leader of their play. 

Then lifting the full jar easily to the top 
of his head, he called out, ^^Come with me." 

They followed his vigorous steps in a chat- 
tering line up the narrow street to his small 
white-walled home, where he left the water- 
jar inside the door in the shade, dropping a 
green branch in it to keep it cool. 



A BOY FROM NOWHERE 19 

Doves were cooing in the eaves and chickens 
were feeding in front of the house. The 
father, a bearded man, stood in the doorway 
planing an ox-yoke, and the mother sat in the 
shaded porch holding a baby in her arms and 
watching another little boy who was playing 
with his oldest brother's pet lamb. She was 
singing softly to the baby as he frolicked npon 
her knee. 

When he told his mother where he was go- 
ing, she addressed him as ^^ Joshua." The 
name was a heroic one, for it had been borne 
by the great commander who had led his fore- 
fathers ont of the desert and by the priest 
who had been their champion when they re- 
turned from exile. In the Latin language the 
name is, Jesus. 

^^ Where are we going?" asked the last of 
the flying troop as they started in another 
direction down the hill once more. 

^^To the threshing floor, of course," shout- 
ed back the leaders. 

It was a flat, open space beside a dry creek- 
bed, pounded hard so the grain would not be 
trampled into it. In the summer the goats 
were driven around it to beat the grain from 
the husks with their hoofs. But the rest of 
the year it was the children's playground. 

First, they played ^^ Wedding." This was 
the girl's favorite. The boy of the water-jar 
gaily took his place as the bridegroom, and 
taking out his flute, led off a jolly, prancing 



20 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

procession consisting of the other boys, who 
represented the groomsmen or '^the sons of 
the bride-chamber.'' In another place the 
girls gathered around the one they had 
chosen as bride and carried make-believe 
torches, waved myrtle boughs over her head, 
and noisily pretended to beat drums and play 
on pipes. Advancing, with singing and danc- 
ing, the bridesmaids escorted the bride to her 
future home. 

This did not give exercise enough to suit 
the boys, and soon they insisted on playing 
' ' Funeral. ' ' Marching more slowly, boys and 
girls together, they crooned a dirge, they 
howled and beat their breasts, as they had 
seen their elders do, for an Eastern funeral 
is very noisy. And some of the boys rolled 
on the ground and threw dust over their 
heads, as the rest climbed up toward the old 
tombs in the crags Aear the hilltop. 

When they had come to the summit, nearly 
breathless, they found sitting there, clothed 
in his loose brown robe and leaning upon his 
staff, the old minister of the village. He was 
also their school-teacher, and they all loved 
him. 

Jesus and the others saluted him respect- 
fully and sat down beside him. 

Pretty soon the youngest said boldly, ^^Tell 
us a story. Father Jacob." 

^^A true story, if you please," said a boy 
named Hosea. 



A BOY FROM NOWHERE 21 

So they gathered around the old man on 
the hillcrest, while the sheep grazed around 
them, and occasionally a gray eagle floated 
with stately sweep above their heads. 

From the spot where they were sitting one 
could see a glorious prospect.^ Down below, 
the little village was perched on the edge of 
the eastward hillslope like a great white 
wasp 's nest. Its flat roofs lay among terraced 
gardens full of dark, wide-branched fig trees, 
gray olives and feathery palms. But beyond, 
on every side but one, was a sea of moun- 
tains. Only one town could be seen, a city 
on a hilltop, far to the northwest. 

It would be worth while for you to turn to 
the map in the back of the book and pick out 
some of the famous places that would be seen 
from this town where our hero was brought 
up. 

The white-bearded story-teller stood up, 
and with a smile pointed his staff inquiringly 
northward. Beyond a mountainous plateau 
they could see the snowy shoulder of Mount 
Hermon, the highest peak and the northern 
boundary of their native land. At its foot 
was the summer palace of their foreign mon- 
arch. 

But nobody wanted to hear about Mount 
Hermon. 

He pointed to the east. In the break of the 
eastern hills they could see the chasm in 

* See Note 4. 



22 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

which flowed a river, and far beyond it the 
steep dark walls of a noble tableland. 

^^Oh, tell US about the mountains of Gil- 
ead!'' shouted one of the boys. ^^Tell us of 
Jephthah the great hunter." 

^^No,'' said one of the girls, ^4t is too sad. 
My mother told me about the death of his 
little daughter and it made me cry. ' ' 

^^Then tell about Gideon's victory, and how 
he chased our country's enemies over there 
across the Jordan into the underwoods, and 
then whipped the cowards of Succoth with 
their own briar bushes. ' ' 

But not all could agree to hear even this 
merry story, so he turned about and pointed 
westward. 

They saw a range of low hills and beyond 
them a long, purple mountain, and still be- 
yond that the blue sea. 

^^Let us hear about the desert prophet, and 
of how he conquered the priests of Baal with 
the lightnings, ' ' cried another boy. 

^^ Yes, tell us of Elijah," said a third eager- 
ly. But no, the rest had often heard the well- 
known story of Elijah's testing of the gods 
of evil Queen Jezebel. 

And so he pointed to the south. There the 
hills drop down to a long, wine-colored plain, 
a great triangle of waving grain and grass, 
one of the most spacious and historic valleys 
in the world. The story-teller's eyes flashed 
as he looked. 



A BOY FROM NOWHERE 23 

Instantly all rose and shouted and clapped 
their hands. 

^^Yes! Yes! tell us of Jezreel! Tell us of 
our country's battle-ground!'' 

And so the children gathered around him 
and he told them splendid stories of their na- 
tion 's history, pointing as he talked toward 
one hilltop or another, for every one of those 
memorable places could be picked out from 
where they were sitting. Yonder, southeast, 
behind Mount Gilboa, he made them seem to 
see intrepid Gideon testing the courage of 
his volunteers at the water springs, and then, 
the next night, executing that skilful strategy 
by which he routed an enormous army with 
no weapons but lamps and water pitchers. 
Across this very valley below drove famous 
King Jehu to kill wretched Jezebel, the 
enemy of his people. Yonder, too, died the 
boy-king Josiah in a daring but vain endeavor 
to stem the power of Egypt, the mightiest 
monarchy in the world. 

^^Do you see yonder roadway?" he inter- 
rupted. 

And now the children watched eagerly as 
he traced through the grain fields the royal 
highway, down which they could even now 
dimly see camel trains moving. It is the old- 
est road in the world, the bridge between 
Asia and Africa. 

He told them how, many hundred years be- 
fore, a warrior named Sisera, with his fierce 



24 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

army in iron chariots, had come marching 
toward their home, along this very road, from 
yonder distant pass in the mountains at the 
south. Then he pointed southeastward to the 
round dome of Tabor, where a brave woman, 
a mother in Israel, with a young man, hardly 
more than a boy, to help her, had gathered 
IsraePs untrained but eager minutemen to 
the defense of their country. Into that field 
of blood rushed down this little band of gal- 
lant patriots. Then the skies suddenly dark- 
ened, the rain fell in torrents, the plain be- 
came a sea of mud and the chariot wheels of 
the enemy could not move. With desperate 
courage Israel's heroes fought among the 
horses and war cars against tremendous odds, 
and won. Back along that rain-drenched 
road the enemy fled on foot. Many were 
swept away in yonder flooded stream, be- 
neath the site of Elijah's altar. But Sisera, 
their chief, pressed doggedly eastward. 

^^Is there any more?'' some one asked 
breathlessly. 

The children turned their faces again to- 
ward the Jordan, and the speaker's voice fell 
as he related the dread tragedy of the victory. 
He told how the wife of Heber, of the kins- 
men of the Hebrews, received the spent war- 
rior kindly into her tent. Then he recited 
the old war-song of Deborah and Barak. It 
told how when he was drowsy, because of her 
love for downtrodden Israel. 



A BOY FROM NOWHEEE 25 

^^She brought him butter in a lordly dish, 
She put her hand to the nail, 
And her right hand to the workman's ham- 
mer. 
Yea, she pierced and struck through his tem- 
ples. 
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay ; 
At her feet he fell : 
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ' ' 

He chanted the dirge by Sisera's mother 
and then sang the closing words of triumph: 
''So let thine enemies perish, Lord; 
But let them that love him be as the sun when 
he goeth forth in his might. ' ' 

It was by such tales as these that the school- 
masters of Israel caused their children to hate 
the sins that since those brave days had made 
their nation weak and the enemies who had 
brought them low. 

Then he told them the finest story of all, 
of the great shepherd-king who had carried 
Israel on his heart, David, once the boy of 
Bethlehem in Judah. Of his fight with the 
lion and the bear on the lonely hilltops of his 
father's pastures, of his duel with the giant 
Goliath, and of his perilous life with King 
Saul, the sad, wild monarch who both loved 
and hated him so well, he spoke. ^^And 
who ever won hearts as did he ? The mighty 
Three who broke through an army to quench 
their hero's thirst, the fearless Benaiah who 



26 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

leapt down and slew a lion in a pit on a 
snowy day, and prince Jonathan— oh! the 
world well knows how their sonls were knit to- 
gether. ' ' 

He paused, as if in thought. They could 
scarce wait for him to continue. 

Then he told how David with his dauntless 
clan subsisted in the deserts as an exile, while 
the prince went out to fight by his father's 
side, and how when the long day of battle 
had turned against them, those brave heroes, 
noble father and tender son, lay down to- 
gether in death on yonder summit. 

^ ^ There it stands ! ' ' the old man exclaimed, 
as he pointed beyond rounded Tabor to gray 
Gilboa in the far southeast. 

And in thrilling tones he recited the famous 
*^Song of the Bow," which David, now king 
of all Israel, sang, as he led the mourning 
nation down the mountain. 

''Thy glory, Israel, is slain upon thy high 

places. 
How are the mighty fallen ! 
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant 

in their lives. 
And in their death they were not divided. 

I am distressed for thee, my brother Jona- 
than. 
Thy love to me was wonderful, 
Passing the love of women.'' 



A BOY FROM NOWHERE 27 

The children drew a long breath when this 
story was done. The encircling hills seemed 
still to shelter the watching spirits of these 
heroes of the past. One of the lads, stretch- 
ing himself to his utmost and shaking his 
right arm toward that funeral mountain, 
shouted : 

^^Hail to you, mighty kings of old, and hail 
to you, David, great Shepherd of Israel." 

Jesus clasped his playmate's hand with a 
look of delight at such enthusiasm, for he was 
himself of the family of their hero. 

As the children w^ent down the hill they 
spoke with gleeful voices of those great days 
when God had made their nation so famous 
through the deeds of its noble sons and daugh- 
ters. 

^^And he will do it again!" said one of the 
older boys stoutly. ^^He will do it again! 
What does the prophet say? 

^^ ^Behold, a king shall reign in righteous- 
ness . . . 

And a man shall be as a covert from the tem- 
pest: . . . 

As the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
land.'" 

The teacher was pleased to note the bright 
boy's ready memory. 

^^When will our king come, Father Jacob?" 



28 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

asked one of the girls wearily. ^^My father 
says it has been very long. ' ' 

^ ^ He is coming, my child, ' ' said the old man, 
laying his hand on her glossy head. ^^He is 
coming. Out of Bethlehem, David's city, the 
prophet has said onr Deliverer shall appear." 

Jesus had fallen back beside the rabbi. 

*^How shall the Messiah be known?'' he 
asked. 

^^It is written of him," the master an- 
swered, ^ ^ ^ I delight to do thy will, God. ' ' ' 

The boy walked on a moment in silence, 
then as they came to a steep place, he gave 
the venerable man his strong shoulder and 
helped him down to his home. 

The brows of the little patriots had dark- 
ened as they thought of their long-suffering 
land and the hated yoke of the proud Eomans. 
But, when they reached the threshing-floor 
again and had parted from the good rabbi 
with hearty farewells, their spirits grew 
brighter and they all wanted one more game 
before dinner. 

^^We'll play ^Kingdom,' " cried one. 
^^That is the best game of all." 

^^Who will be king?" 

^^No, I!" 

^^Andl!" 

^'No, Jesus shall be our king," said Jesus' 
chum, the boy who had quoted from the old 
prophet. **He is the strongest. He is the 



A BOY FROM NOWHERE 29 

one who leads our games and makes peace 
when we quarrel. Let Jesus be our king ! ' ^ 

And, with one accord, before he had a 
chance to protest, they had seated the dark- 
eyed lad on a knoll, and were crowning him 
with blossoms. They put a palm branch in 
his hand and spread their cloaks before him, 
and two boys, one at his right and one at his 
left, stationed themselves as his attendants, 
while the rest stopped the good-natured pass- 
ers-by, old and young, and merrily forced 
them to approach, saying, ^^Come here and 
adore our king, and afterward go on your 
way in peace." 

And then they all went home, tired, to their 
dinners. 

In a few moments Jesus had reached his 
father's door. It was open toward the east. 
The family were just sitting down on the floor 
around the low stand which they used as their 
table. As soon as the chattering little on^s 
were still, Jesus, as the oldest son, stood and 
asked the blessing. He sat by his mother's 
side and told all the adventures of the merry 
morning. His mother, whose name was Mary, 
was especially pleased when he described how 
the boys had crowned him king. 

After Jesus had helped his mother with her 
work the family rested for an hour or two 
through the hot midday. Then the boy 
walked out to the vineyards with his chum 
and talked with the vine-dressers. When 



30 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

night came he saw that the chickens were in 
their shelter, and after he had eaten his sup- 
per, he fed his lamb. Then his father shut the 
house door and before the color had faded out 
of the west the whole family was asleep. 



II 

SCHOOL DAYS LONG AGO AND FAR 
AWAY 

Would yon like to take a look into Jesns' 
schoolhonse? 

It is a low, sqnare stone bnilding near the 
village fountain. 

Over the door is an ornamental carving of 
a bunch of grapes or a pot of manna. 

Entering beneath a gallery in the rear you 
find yourself facing a low platform, in the 
center of which is a curtained chest. 

It looks like a country church in New Eng- 
land. 

It is a church, for the schools of these days 
were held in the meeting-houses, and, as I 
have said, the ministers were the school- 
teachers. 

If you should look inside, though, when 
school was in session, it would not remind you 
much of an American schoolhouse. You think 
of a group of boys and girls seated at their 
desks, studying their lessons in perfect silence. 
But in Jesus' village you would know as soon 
as you were anywhere near the schoolhouse 
by the noise that came from it, and if you 
looked through the door or window you would 
see all the scholars seated in a circle on the 



32 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

floor around their teacher, who was seated 
there, too, studying their lessons at the top of 
their voices ! 

What kind of text-books did they have? 
Arithmetics ? Geographies ? Spelling-books ? 
Did each boy carry an armfnl of books as 
schoolboys do in America? 

There was but one text-book, and only one 
copy of that. It was a queer-looking volume, 
laid when not in use behind the curtains on 
yonder platform. Written on a leather roll 
from right to left, it was wound around two 
metal staves and kept in a silk case. 

It was the Old Testament. 

Do you think that would be an interesting 
school-book? It surely was to Jesus. The 
stories of his country's heroes, the history of 
his nation's wars, the words of its best and 
greatest men are all found in its pages. It 
was spelling-book, reader, geography, history, 
language-lessons, poetry, lessons in behaviour 
—all bound in one volume. 

Jesus began to study it when he was a child 
at home. Perhaps his mother taught him 
first a birthday- verse, beginning with or con- 
taining the same letters as his name. Then he 
learned a few of the shorter psalms, especially 
those used in the feast-day processions. 

When he went to school his first lessons 
were in the book of Leviticus. 

Every lesson was a memory-lesson. How 
patiently the old teacher drilled, drilled, 



SCHOOL DAYS LONG AGO 33 

drilled his scholars day after day. Those 
shrill voices uplifted in concert were reciting 
over and over, first the olden laws, then the 
stories, and finally the Prophets and the 
Psalms, until the children knew by heart, so 
that they never could forget, thousands of 
verses from their nation's book. 

Not until Jesus was ten or twelve did he 
begin to be taught the explanations of what 
he had learned. Those ancient schoolmasters 
believed in rote first, then reason. 

School days in Galilee were not tiresome. 
There were no lessons in the middle of the 
day or in hot weather. About one day in four 
was a holiday, and children did not go to 
school much after they were twelve or four- 
teen years old. 

To-day we study many subjects in school; 
drawing and painting and cooking and car- 
pentering. In these days the homes did this 
part of the school teaching. Every boy, no 
matter how wealthy his parents, must learn 
a trade. It was usually taught him by his 
father. So Jesus learned from Joseph how 
to handle the saw, the plane and the mason's 
trowel, while his little sisters, Salome and 
Mary, were learning from their mother how 
to sew and keep house. 

If the school-teacher taught Jesus to recite 
the psalms, probably it was his mother who 
taught him to sing them. She herself had 



34 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

composed songs, one of which is still sung 
to-day in all our churches. 

In all countries those who become great owe 
a great debt to their mothers. This was espe- 
cially so in Israel. Motherhood was the best 
thing Israel had. ^^God could not be every- 
where, ' ' was one of their sayings, ' ' and so he 
made mothers.'' Jesus owed much to his 
mother. She taught him many things that the 
village master did not know. The rabbi knew 
what Abraham and Moses and David did. 
But she could tell her boy what they hoped 
and felt and suffered. The rabbi lived in the 
past, but she, like that other peasant girl, 
Joan of Arc, had visions of the future. She 
did not, like the maid of Orleans, expect to 
wield a sword. Her weapon for victory over 
wrong was her boy. 

No wonder that the greatest painters have 
tried to portray her loving, thoughtful face. 
No wonder that the whole world honors Mary, 
who lived only that she might give the world 
its king. 

It seems as if all Nazareth were a school- 
house. The view from the hilltop was a 
course in history. The birds and flowers, the 
trees, vineyards and meadows taught nature- 
study. At the village fountain travelers 
brought accounts of the geography of other 
lands. It was even possible to learn a little 
of their strange languages. 

Then in one sense all the grown people of 



SCHOOL DAYS LONG AGO 35 

Nazareth were teachers. For everybody in 
those days took the deepest interest in chil- 
dren. They often talked with them, they an- 
swered their questions and they taught them 
all sorts of wise sayings. In every village 
there were men who spent much of their time 
thns conversing with yonng people, and in 
one of the common sayings of the day chil- 
dren were encouraged to learn from such 
men. The saying was: ^^Stay close by the 
seller of perfumes if you want to keep fra- 
grant. ' ' 



in 

A CAMPING TOUR IN THE MOUNTAINS 

On the night of the holiday, which I spoke 
of in the first chapter, the village went to bed 
early, for the next day was to be a notable one. 

Before the snn was np everybody had gath- 
ered at the fountain. The fathers and moth- 
ers and the older children were going to leave 
for a ten days' tour. They were going to 
the capital for the great annual feast, to cele- 
brate the nation's birthday. 

Donkeys were being loaded by the men with 
baggage, the mothers were saying good-by to 
their little children, who were left in their 
grandparents' charge, and the children whom 
we met yesterday were under the donkeys' 
feet and in everybody's way, having a glad 
time in prospect of the holiday. For a town 
with nobody in it but grandparents and chil- 
dren must be a very jolly one. 

Soon the cavalcade started, the old rabbi 
and the chief men with the village banner 
riding ahead, surrounded by a crowd of boys, 
among whom was Jesus. The rest followed, 
all except the wom^en on foot. 

Jesus parted with reluctance from his 



CAMPING TOUR IN THE MOUNTAINS 37 

younger playmates and his little brothers and 
sisters. Even when the pilgrims could be 
faintly heard by the villagers left behind, 
singing their marching song from the hilltop, 
he was seen waving his hand to them in fare- 
well. But then his eyes turned eagerly to the 
pathway before him. 

For this was Jesus' first journey from 
home.f 

The procession straggled down the Naza- 
reth hills to the great plain of Esdraelon. As 
soon as it entered the old royal road it 
joined a great throng of travelers, some their 
countrymen living in foreign lands, others 
Romans, Greeks, and even Ethiopians, com- 
ing for trade or curiosity, to the feast. Here 
were stately camels and gray mules covered 
with gay saddle cloths, bearing bales of silks 
and clothing and bundles of spices and mer- 
chandise. And as they traveled slowly on 
through the grain fields, dotted with wild 
flowers of blue and purple and scarlet, they 
were to the shepherd boys watching their 
sheep beside the placid river, and to the farm- 
ers and their wives, standing knee deep in the 
yellow grain, a vision of wonder. The distant 
hills had a delicate veil of green after the 
recent rains and the air was sweet with the 
breath of wild thyme. 

They crossed the Kishon River,* now at full 
springtime flood. Jesus looked with interest 

t See Note 7. * See Note 6. 



38 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

at Shunem, where Elislia gave the little boy 
back to his mother, saw the weird caves of 
gloomy Endor, where the old witch used to 
live, and gazed in silent wonder at the huge 
broken sculptures of ruined Jezreel, Jezebel's 
old summer home. Toward night they 
reached a sheltered spot between grassy 
Mount Carmel and barren Gilboa, where the 
road begins to climb the tableland, which was 
the route of their to-morrow's journey. A 
part of the caravan had already turned away 
into a sandy pass through Carmel toward the 
sea, on the long way to Egypt. 

Their camping spot was close to a fountain 
and near a cluster of gardens. Jesus helped 
his father fasten their beast and gathered 
sticks for a fire, so that his mother might cook 
their pottage. After supper they two made a 
couch and shelter of branches for the mother, 
while they themselves prepared to sleep on 
the ground under the stars. But sleep was 
not to be thought of at once. In the distance 
they could hear the marching songs of other 
pilgrims who were approaching. Near by, 
a great camp-fire was a center of attraction. 
Jesus and the other boys were soon standing 
in its blaze. Already a group of men had 
gathered, some to exchange greetings and 
news with new-found friends, some to tell 
stories, and some to argue excitedly and end- 
lessly about religion. Above, the young pas- 
chal moon was shining, making the wooded 



CAMPING TOUR IN THE MOUNTAINS 39 

slopes of the encircling hills as distant against 
the sky as in the day. Mnch did the boys hear 
that evening, and these three full days, of the 
strange languages and ideas of other lands 
and still more of the glories of their own. 

The next day their way was through the 
highlands. The region belonged to the fa- 
natic Samaritans, who thrust their tongues 
out at them in hatred as they passed. Had it 
not been the feast time they would have 
taken a long roundabout course to avoid the 
unpleasantness and danger of passing 
through this region. But perhaps the slight 
risk added a delightful element of excitement 
to the younger pilgrims. They passed in 
sight of the well where Joseph was left by 
his envious brothers, and told each other 
again the splendid tale of the trials and tri- 
umphs of that princely youth, and soon they 
came to the city of Samaria, which was the 
new political capital, as Jerusalem was the 
ancient religious capital, of the nation. 

It must have seemed to the boys almost a 
fairy town. The white houses in their green 
foliage climbed up the hill to the king's mar- 
ble palace at the top, and from its walls and 
gardens one could look northward to a curve 
of noble forest-crowned hills, westward to the 
blue sea, and southward down the greenest 
valley in all the land. They hurried down 
this valley, for tho it was a beautiful, it was 
not a friendly, city. On every side were olive 



40 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

and lemon groves, fragrant as spice, and the 
nightingales were already beginning to sing 
in the branches. 

A little beyond Shechem they fonnd their 
second camping place. If an American boy 
wonld rejoice to retr averse the old battle 
ronte from Boston to Concord Bridge, he may 
imagine how this lad enjoyed this historic 
journey. Turn to your map again and follow 
the boys of Nazareth as they climb along the 
backbone of Palestine. 

The halt was made in a narrow valley be- 
tween two mountains. 

^^This," said Jesus' father, pointing to the 
bleak northern peak, "is Ebal, the mount of 
cursing. ' ' 

He did not need to be told that the more 
fertile cone was Gerizim, the mountain of 
blessing, or that it was on these two hillslopes 
that his great namesake, Joshua, had gath- 
ered the nation in two bands and addressed 
them after the conquest. 

Close by was a low, whitewashed tomb. 

Did his heart not throb when his father said 
reverently, 

^^The grave of Joseph.'' 

Here lay the body of that spotless prince, 
Israel's King Arthur, after its long travels. 
The whole nation had escorted it to its rest. 

^^This spot of ground," the speaker con- 
tinued, ^^was won by Jacob with his sword." 
He also told how the great father of the na- 



CAMPING TOUR IN THE MOUNTAINS 41 

tion, Abraham himself, had come hither with 
his flocks when he was seeking a safe home 
in these rocky pastures. 

A few moments later Jesus was looking 
down into a deep well, from which in an in- 
stant was drawn a bucket of ice-cold water. 
He needed no one to tell him that it was that 
oldest of memorials, the well of Jacob. 

One more night was spent in camp after a 
day of pleasant travel, enlivened by the glad- 
some beat of drums and timbrels, and through 
places equally memorable for their glorious 
names. 

By this time the children had learned to 
guess which interesting town would look out 
from the next hilltop, and merrily they an- 
swered to one another : 

^^ Bethel-" 

^^ Where homesick Isaac fell asleep his first 
night away from home on the stones of his 
grandfather's altar.'' 

^^Gibeah?" 

^'No. Eamah." 

^^ Where Samuel, the king-maker lived." 

^^Here is Gibeah, then." 

^^Yes, the birthplace of King Saul." 

This country was not, like Samaria, green 
and watered and fertile, but it was gray, stony 
and bare. It looked like the hills of New Eng- 
land. Yet it was more dear, for the highland- 
ers of Judea had always been the nation's de- 
fenders. 



42 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

The next morning there was a great shak- 
ing and smoothing out of clothes and a put- 
ting on of adornments, because by noontime 
the eighty-mile journey would be nearly over, 
and the Holy City, the goal of their pilgrim- 
age, would be in sight. The travelers this 
morning began to sing : 

''I was glad when they said unto me, 
Let us go unto the House of the Lord, ' ' 

and other ancient songs that had been com- 
posed on purpose for this journey. 

Tho long awaited, the first sight of the 
city^ was unexpected. They climbed a hill- 
ock, and lo! it was all spread before them. 
The great stone castles of the Eomans were 
on the right, the old gray wall was around 
it, and the hills were its guardians, but there 
at the left before them was the Temple Hill 
with its snowy terraces of marble and its 
roofs of gleaming gold! A burst of song 
arose as the Holy House flashed into view. 
Then the whole company knelt in thanks- 
giving. 

Down through the fig and olive trees they 
hastened, past the villas of the wealthy, meet- 
ing now a band of iron-armored Roman le- 
gionaries, now a group of silken-gowned doc- 
tors of the law, until they entered the city 
gate. 

There was no question of paying for enter- 

* See Note 8. 



CAMPING TOUR IN THE MOUNTAINS 43 

tainment. All Jerusalem was keeping open 
house. But the city was already crowded 
with hundreds of thousands of people. If 
there was a curtain hanging over any en- 
trance it meant, '^ Still there is room." But 
if there was no room left, belated travelers 
encamped cheerfully in the orchards outside 
the gates. 

Too eager to rest, too grateful to sleep, the 
pilgrims from Nazareth, taking a hasty meal 
and greeting many of their distant kinsmen, 
hurried to join the great throng in the tem- 
ple courts, and there they were found even 
until midnight waiting in the moonlight their 
turn to present their free-will gifts. 



IV 
THREE DAYS AT COLLEGE 

They took but a few hours of sleep. 

It was the edge of the dawn. Far aloft a 
silver trumpet blew three times, and ere it 
ceased the priest who had slept all night at 
the portal beside the golden keys sprang to 
his feet, kissed the master-key and swung 
open the massive temple doors. 

Before daylight the other priests had been 
awake within, and had inspected the dark cor- 
ridors in procession by torchlight. The fire 
was rekindled on the altars, the sacrifice was 
laid upon the coals, and when the worshipers 
began to crowd in, the Holy House was ready 
for the services of the day. 

Jesus stood, in the early morning light, with 
his parents in the Jewish Court. Proudly he 
looked outside to the larger courtyard where 
foreigners gathered curiously and looked up 
and read the stone tablet, which warned them 
of death if they ventured farther. But he 
was one of ^^the Chosen People ;'' ^Hhe Sons 
of God,'' they called themselves. And so, 
when the strange washings and bowings and 
recitatives went on, he watched eagerly, for 



THREE DAYS AT COLLEGE 45 

this service belonged to him; when the odor 
of incense was diffuse'd he knelt with the thou- 
sands ; as he watched it overflow the curtains 
it seemed like the rising prayers of his nation ; 
and as the officiating priest, with tinkling bells 
on the border of his gown, walked here and 
there beyond that rainbow-colored curtain, 
he could tell by the music at what part of the 
service he was engaged. 

A little later he saw a company of priests 
coming up from the valley beyond the walls 
waviiig the bundle of grain, which they had 
cut with a golden sickle. It was the first- 
fruits of the harvest. And he saw them bring- 
ing the golden pitcher of water from the 
sacred wells. 

Meantime, back in the home village of 
Jesus, the old grandames and the little chil- 
dren were searching their dark houses with 
candles for any scraps of raised bread, and 
were making the flat, white, tasteless loaves 
which were the only bread they ate during 
the whole feast. 

The Passover was Israel's New Year's Day, 
Fourth of July and Easter, all in one. But 
how strangely different from ours were their 
celebrations ! 

When the great day of the feast came, Jo- 
seph, the father of the family, carried up the 
choice yearling lamb which he had brought 
for the sacrifice. When the priest had slain 



46 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

it, Mary roasted it upon a cross of pome- 
granate wood. 

Away from the crowd, in an upper room, 
Joseph and his wife and their boy ate the 
sacred meal. Every part of it was a story 
told in picture and action. There lay the 
lamb upon the board, to remind them that re- 
demption always is at the cost of life. Here 
were the bitter herbs, type of the bitterness 
of slavery, and a paste of fruits, emblem of 
the mortar used by their fathers when they 
were forced to make bricks in Egypt. They 
ate standing and in haste, as if just fleeing 
from bondage. Solemn thanksgivings were 
offered and old songs were sung. 

Then came the child 's hour. In every home 
in Israel the youngest was taught to ask this 
question : 

' ' What do you mean by this service ? ' ^ 

Jesus asked the question. 

Then Joseph told the story of the Exodus 
again. 

>^Many years ago we were a nation of 
slaves. God stretched out his hand and saved 
us from those who had laid tasks upon us, 
making us their brickmakers and burden- 
bearers. There came a night of darkness and 
death. The pestilence was on the whole land, 
even in the king's palace. Moses told us to 
sprinkle lamb's blood on our door-posts, to 
bind up our garments and to prepare for 
flight. God looked through the darkness, and 



THREE DAYS AT COLLEGE 47 

where the blood was, there he passed over and 
left men alive. He led us out through the 
storm, and the divided seas, and the next 
morning we were free upon a stranger's 
shore. Since that day we have always kept 
the sacrifice with a slain lamb, and we call 
it the Passover.'' 

So, by action and story, this service, cen- 
turies old, was meant to teach the children of 
God's salvation, so that it might never be for- 
gotten. 

Go into any Jewish home to-day at Pass- 
over, in the spring, and you will see how well 
they remember. You will find the family con- 
ducting this very service just as they did two 
or three thousand years ago. 

There was much to see in the city after the 
feast was over, and among the busy shops en- 
croaching even on the holy shrine, the stalwart 
garrison and the child musicians in the tem- 
ple, the Nazareth boys roamed together. But 
Jesus went most often alone to the broad ter- 
race below the marble house, where on sunny 
feast-day afternoons the teachers of the sacred 
law sat, and talked genially with any, even lads 
like himself, who might care to meet them. 
It was a sort of people's college. They were 
the wisest, and some of them were the best 
people of their time: Hillel the Great and 
Hanan and Caiaphas and Nicodemus and Jo- 
seph of Arimathea— some of whom were to 



48 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

kill him in hate, some of whom were to bury 
him with generous love. 

Every boy has his questions, ^^ Who am I?'^ 
' ' What am I good f or ! " " What shall I live 
for?" To answer such questions a boy needs 
help. Jesus, too, felt that he needed help. 

He talked about these things to the elders. 
They were amazed at the quick understand- 
ing with which he met their counsels and, 
when they interested themselves to ask ques- 
tions of him, at his answers. 

Every day he came. His parents were visit- 
ing their many friends. The city, tho crowd- 
ed, was perfectly safe. Boys in that time 
were allowed great freedom. The weather 
was warm, and Jesus could sleep with his 
young comrades anywhere, in safety. Jesus 
had never caused his mother the slightest 
anxiety. But as a lad he had always been 
fond of play and adventure. He wore out 
clothes just as other boys do. So she felt sure 
he had found new playmates among the com- 
panies that had first moved homeward, and 
so, on the day appointed for their return, she 
started from the city without even looking 
him up. 

A few miles north of the capital they halted 
for the night, at the first stage for caravans. 
Here they expected to find him waiting, or 
thought that if they tarried, they could meet 
him if he came later, easier than in the 
thronged town. But no. They stayed over 



THREE DAYS AT COLLEGE 49 

night and lie had not come and was not to be 
found. 

Meantime Jesns was all day at the temple. 
Here where the kings of his people had 
walked, where the prophets had preached, 
where the martyrs had died, he came. What 
a world opened to this lad from Nowhere on 
this first stay at the great city! He had ar- 
rived, a boy ; he was becoming a man. 

He felt that he could not go until his great 
questions were answered. The greatest of all 
was, What was he to do with his life? He 
thought much about those brave men of old 
who had lived for others. He thought how 
sorely his downtrodden people needed a de- 
liverer now. What could he do ? What was 
he, all alone? Then he thought of God. It 
was God helping Israel that had made Israel 
strong. It was the men who had done God's 
will who had saved their nation. What if he 
were to try perfectly to do the will of God? 

In a quiet corner of the great church the 
noble boy knelt by himself, and perhaps his 
only prayer was this: ''That I may do my 
Father's will." 

It was while he was brooding over these 
things that the anxious mother broke through 
the silken company of doctors seated on that 
grassy terrace in the evening light and threw 
her arms about her boy, crying, ' ' Child, why 
have you dealt so with us ? Your father and 
I have sought you in great distress," 



50 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

Yon will understand me when I say that 
Jesus had a right to have forgotten all about 
his mother just then. True, she was anxious, 
but he was not a child now. His father need- 
ed him in Nazareth, but the All-Father in 
Heaven wanted his whole life. * And he had 
this great life question which he needed all 
the help he could get to solve, and he had to 
solve it, as all boys do when they begin to be 
men, alone. 

So he looked, like one awaking, wondering- 
ly into her face and answered, ^^How is it 
that you are searching for me ? ' ' 

Up to this time his mother had been in the 
habit of saying gently to him, ^^You must," 
and he had obeyed her. Now and henceforth 
he felt a Voice within which said "I must." 
That Voice, God's Voice, must hereafter be 
obeyed. So he answered, ^^Did you not know 
that I must be about my Father's work?" 

She did not understand what he meant, 
altho she thought of these words many times 
later. 







o 



Ph 

H 

K 
ffl 



P^ 
O 

> 

m 

a 

H 

O 

o 

I— I 
Q 






THE VILLAGE CARPENTER 



"What did the boy mean? 

It may be the first thought that he had was, 
that if he was to be the deliverer his nation 
wanted he would probably need to remain in 
the city and study and serve about the temple. 

Many a boy feels that way. He has de- 
cided upon some noble calling. ^'Let me be- 
gin it at once ' ' is his cry. But he forgets his 
need of knowledge and wisdom and experi- 
ence, and that just at present the most im- 
portant thing he has to do is to get ready. 

So, back again up that steep pathway from 
Esdraelon to forsaken Nazareth he went, to 
obey, to love, to serve, and the wise men of 
Jerusalem entirely forgot him. 

His school-days were soon over. No doubt 
the village teacher remained his friend, but 
it was not long before he had taught him all 
he knew. Probably he borrowed the great 
roll of the holy writings in the village church 
and read them over and over, for when he be- 
came a man he knew them by heart. Like our 
own Lincoln, he became a man of one book. 

At once he went to work. His father was a 



52 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

builder. The house was now full of little ones, 
and the oldest boy was as busy as his father 
in providing for their wants. Had you lived 
in Nazareth then you would have seen him 
standing among the shavings in the house 
door, holding firmly the timber for his father 
to saw, helping carry the finished work 
through the street or tramping off beside Jo- 
seph with his kit of tools to do work in some 
neighboring village. 

And he did not have many holidays. The 
sacred festivals and the short rainy season 
and the Sabbaths were his only days of rest. 

Like every true boy, he was fond of the 
water, and when work was dull he sometimes 
walked down to the lake, fifteen miles away, 
where he could fish with hook and net or learn 
to handle the stout boats that sailed its treach- 
erous waters. At seamanship, like everything 
else that he tried, he seemed to be a little 
more capable than anybody else. 

As he stooped over the saw or pushed the 
plane, do you suppose, like other boys, he ever 
longed to get away and begin to be a man 
and have his own future ? If he ever did, his 
dreams were soon broken, for even while he 
was a boy his father died and he was left with 
the care of his mother and all the younger 
children upon his own strong shoulders. Jo- 
seph had been a kind father. He must liave 
been, for Jesus thought of him every time he 
spoke of God as ^^ Father.'' And he was glad 



THE VILLAGE CARPENTER 53 

to try to take his place, to think for his mother, 
who had always thought for him. 

But it is not an easy thing for a boy to sup- 
port a family of eight. Did yon ever think 
that he had to do that? Fortunately, people 
did not need to have so many things as they 
do to-day. Their regular meal consisted of 
bread, a hot gravy, or eggs, or occasionally a 
stew of meat, a simple relish, vegetables, and 
sometimes milk or curds. The climate was so 
mild that they lived mostly out-of-doors, and 
about all the furniture they had was a table, 
a small kitchen furnace for charcoal, a few 
leather bottles, some wooden bowls, one or 
two water-jars, some goblets, a wooden chest, 
and some thick quilts for beds, which they un- 
rolled and laid out on the floor at night. Of 
course, Jesus, being a carpenter, made his 
mother any conveniences she needed. But 
her housework was very simple, and after she 
had tended her chickens and her vines she had 
plenty of time with her boy. 

Can you seem to see the curly-haired lad 
working at his bench in the doorway as Jo- 
seph used to do? He is now so strong that 
he can handle the heavier tools and do a 
man's work. He makes plows and fits them 
with iron shares, and spades and forks and 
ax-hafts and ox-goads and heavy wooden har- 
rows. 

It would seem to us a hard and uninterest- 
ing life, but the Nazarenes would not have 



\ 



54 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

said so. ^^Why!'' I can hear one of them 
exclaim, ^^ Everybody in the village has to 
come to his shop, farmers, vine-dressers, 
shepherds, drovers, merchants from near and 
far, and he is always among the first to learn 
the news. He it is who hears of sudden sor- 
row or great joy, and he has a chance to know 
from travelers a little what their wide world 
beyond the hills is thinking and doing, and to 
practise the language of other peoples. ' ' 

There was much repairing and rebuilding 
for him to do, for he was a mason as well as 
a carpenter, and the houses were built of mud 
or stone. And then he went to every house 
to carry benches and chests, so that he knew 
everybody. And in every home the young 
workman, so willing and cheerful, so fond of 
good stories and friendly talk, was a great 
favorite. Of course, all the children liked 
him. 

After Jesus had come home from the city 
Mary began slowly to realize that her son was 
now becoming a man. It was time to tell him 
a secret, which belonged to her and to him. 

One day they were alone. 

Then she told him the story of his baby- 
hood. ^Before he was born there had come 
to her a vision that she was to be the mother 
of a king. On the night of his birth, in Beth- 
lehem of Judea,^ shepherds who had re- 
ceived the same message came to his birth- 

* See Notes 2 and 3. 



THE VILLAGE CARPENTER 55 

place to pay him homage. And a few 
days later astrologers from distant lands, 
of foreign speech, came riding on camels to 
bring him gifts and bow at his feet. Then the 
jealous Roman king, learning where he had 
been born, had sought his life, lest his friends 
should seize the throne for him. His parents, 
making use of the astrologers ' gold, had hur- 
ried him to Egypt, and there remained with 
him until that king was dead. ' These things 
she told him with eager face, and she showed 
him a golden ornament that remained after 
their exile, as a sign that these words were 
true. ^^You will be a king some day," she 
whispered, with shining eyes, but how or when 
she did not know. 

You have read of other princes in exile— 
Bonny Prince Charlie and the Black Prince 
and Richard of the Lion Heart. You have 
perhaps thought of how they felt— waiting, 
watching, making ready. 

Think what such words as Mary spoke 
would mean to you if they were told you by 
your own mother. Would there be a day when 
you would not be saying : ^ ^ I am going to be a 
king. I shall save my people ! How shall I 
be worthy of my kingdom!" 

Training for kingliness— this sums up the 
boyhood of Jesus. 

The companions of Jesus' boyhood were 
already at work in the fields and vineyards. 
But every evening they all met at the village 



56 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

fountain and talked over the day's work and 
the latest news from the great world that lay 
beyond the hilltops. 

They had mnch to talk of. Theirs was a 
conquered country. It was ruled by Eome, 
much as India is to-day by England. But the 
people hated their rulers. They felt toward 
them much as our forefathers did before the 
Revolution toward King George III. There 
had been occasional uprisings of the people 
against Eome, but most of them were waiting 
for some one to spring from amongst them- 
selves, who would become their king and de- 
liverer. They had read even in their school- 
book, our Old Testament, that a ^'Messiah" 
or ^^ Christ" (the words mean, Consecrated 
One) was to come, and '^he,'' they thought, 
^^ would make their kingdom as glorious again 
as his own ancestor, David, had made if 

How eagerly must the young carpenter 
have listened to their talk! Was not his 
mother often by his side to whisper : ' ' They 
are speaking of you, my son!" But he did 
not say much in answer. 

Did his neighbors think it strange that the 
young man, who claimed to belong to the fam- 
ily of David, should seem to care so little for 
his country? Did they ever say: ^^Why is 
Jesus always reading the sacred books in his 
shop and in his home? He never offers to 
read them aloud in the meeting-house service 
and he never takes part in the debates, that 



THE VILLAGE CARPENTER 57 

follow the reading, about ^the Kingdom to 
comer '' 

Surely these discussions did not lack in in- 
terest. There were almost as many ideas as 
there were talkers. But after all they sifted 
down to two parties. Most thought the king- 
dom would come suddenly, like a comet's 
flash, with war and victory and triumphs. A 
few expected it to come quietly, like the day- 
break, and gradually to cover the whole earth. 

But Jesus kept listening and reading. He 
walked alone a great deal among the hills, he 
worked hard and gave his money to his 
mother, and he taught his brothers their trade. 

So Jesus worked away for nearly twenty 
years, and it looked as if he would work on 
so as long as he lived. 

Did he get impatient now? When he was 
twenty years old, when he was twenty-five, 
did he become restless for other cities and for- 
eign lands ? Those years between twenty and 
thirty, those fiery, tireless years— we think 
them the most precious in life. This future 
king spent them in a dingy shop in that little 
hamlet in Nowhere. Once a year there was a 
precious week at the festival in Jerusalem. 
Then the fog of dull, gray duty shut down 
about him again and he was lost from sight. 

Always busy, never in a hurry— that was 
Jesus ' way. He did not begin his work until 
he was ready. He never hurried, no matter 
who summoned him. But when his work was 



58 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

over, he was able to say of it, ^ ^ I have finished 
the work Thou gavest me to do. ' ' 

One day a man stopped at Jesus ' door who 
had just come up from the capital. He 
brought great news. The whole family of 
Jesus gathered to hear it, and their neighbors 
joined them. 

' ' The prophet has come ! ' ' was his message. 

Some believed that their deliverer was go- 
ing to be another father of his coimtry like 
Moses. Others thought he would be a fearless 
orator like Elijah. 

^^AA^ioishe?'' 

' ' He wears a hair cloak and a leather girdle, 
he came from the* desert and his food is rock 
honey and—'' 

^^It is our Elijah!" the people said excited- 

ly. 

' ' What does he say I Tell us. ' ' 

^^He says, ^I am not he. I am a voice of 
one crying in the wilderness. Make straight 
the way'—" 

^^For the king?" 

^^He says, ^The kingdom draws near!' " 

' ' Hallelujah ! ' ' they cried. ' ' AVhere is he ? " 

^^He has come from the desert, and he is 
now beside the Jordan. He is baptizing the 
people." 

' ' Are there many with him ? ' ' 

^^ Multitudes. All the people are hurrying 
to him. ' ' 



See Note 9. 




From the painting by Holman Hunt 

THE SHADOW OF DEATH 



« 



THE VILLAGE CARPENTER 59 

There was at once great excitement in 
Nazareth. Many believed that this was the 
call to a revolution. Some were sure that, in 
answer to their hopes, the Messiah was get- 
ting ready to ride as a conqueror from the 
Jordan up the road that leads over the Mount 
of Olives, and thence appear suddenly in the 
city and the temple. The new herald, then, 
must be gathering an army to prepare the 
road before his triumphal procession. 

^^The fishermen of Capernaum have left 
their nets to follow him, ' ' was another start- 
ling bit of news, which set many to crying 
out, ^^Let us go, too. Let us rally and show 
our loyalty to the kingdom ! ' ' 

And that very evening a considerable num- 
ber of young men, a few of them armed, went 
southward by the valley road down the Jor- 
dan. Glance at the map, if you will, and trace 
the route of their journey. 

As they passed the home of Jesus they 
shouted to him to ^^come on and fight for the 
kingdom, ' ' and when he smiled and shook his 
head, one of them hotly exclaimed, ^^ Don't 
be a coward. Come on now and do something 
to save your country. ' ' 

The Jordan plunges from the mountains 
down into the deepest hollow in the earth's 
surface. It rushes from its green shrubbery 
into the awful Dead Sea, where bare and 
frowning mountain peaks rise from its broad 
valley like tomb walls for a giant's sepulcher. 



60 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

Here, where the first Elijah had left the 
earth, the second Elijah had appeared. 

A day or two later Jesus quietly laid away 
his tools, took off his workman's apron, said 
good-by to his mother and his brothers, and 
went alone to the Jordan valley. 



VI 
A VOICE FROM THE DESERT 

The men from Nazareth found the prophet 
in the midst of a throng of people. Most of 
them were Jndeans from Jerusalem and about 
there. A few had come down from the Gali- 
lean lake. 

He was about six months older than Jesus. 
Dressed in a rough shepherd's coat of black 
and white camel's hair, fastened at the waist 
by a girdle of lion's skin, he stood by the bank 
of the river. ^ He had a fierce face. His hair 
hung over his eyes, which were deep and alert. 
He did not utter orations or sermons, and he 
did not say even pleasant things to win the 
people. He spoke with a coarse mountain 
dialect and a voice of thunder. ^^You de- 
scendants of vipers ! What are you here 
for?" he was heard to roar, when a very 
respectable company of gentlemen ap- 
proached him: ^^Who told you to come here 
to take refuge from the coming judgment? 
You say Abraham is your forefather. I tell 
you God can make better descendants for 
Abraham out of these pebbles. ' ' 

* See Note 10. 



63 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^Who are yon?" asked a delegate from the 
old temple teachers. 

^^I am not the Christ, not I.'' 

^^Are you Elijah?" 

^^I am not." 

^^Are yon the expected prophet?" 

^^No!" 

^^Who are yon, then? Tell ns, for we mnst 
carry word back to those that sent ns. Wha' 
can yon say for yonrself ? ' ' 

The hermit pansed a moment as if in 
thonght, and then answered them hnmbly bnt 
solemnly by a passage from their ancient 
writings : 

^^I am a Voice of one who cries londly in 
the desert : 

^Prepare the way of Jehovah. 
Every chasm mnst be filled np, 
Every hill mnst be levelled. 
The winding ways mnst be made straight, 
And the stony pathways smooth, 
And all mankind shall see Salvation from 
God.' " 

^^He is a crazy fellow," said his questioner 
to his companion with a sneer. ^^He can do 
no harm." 

Bnt the multitude, moved by his words 
about the coming deliverance, pressed nearer. 

The first to speak was a despised tax-col- 
lector. 

^^What shall I do for the kingdom?" asked 
he. 



A VOICE FROM THE DESERT 63. 

' ' Extort no more than the law allows, ' ' said 
the hermit. 

The crowd laughed, but some one said : 

^^The kingdom will surely be here, when 
the taxman does no more than that. ' ' 

^^And we. What shall we do?" asked a 
burly Roman soldier. 

^^Use no violence to any one. Exact noth- 
ing by false accusations. And be content 
with your pay. ' ' 

''And I? And IV ' asked several of the 
fishermen. 

''If you have two cloaks," was the practical 
reply, "give one to your neighbor. If you 
have food, share that also." 

"A good answer," said several. 

Then suddenly, as a group of people came 
down into the water to be baptized, they heard 
him shout : 

' ' Repent ye ! Repent ye ! For the kingdom 
of Heaven draws near. I, for my part, bap- 
tize you with water. But there is one more 
powerful than I coming, and I am not of 
enough consequence even to unlace his shoes. 
He will baptize you in the holy spirit and in 
fire." 

These strange doings went on day after day. 
The hermit said nothing new. He seemed to 
be a man of one idea. But more people kept 
crowding in to hear the prophet. The sultry 
plain became a great camp-meeting. A few 
returned home to do as he said, but most re- 



64 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

mained in curiosity to see what more wonld 
happen. And each day the excitement of the 
multitude kept growing. Nothing had been 
said yet about taking up arms, and no leader 
but the rough-clad exhorter had appeared, 
and the prophet seemed to be looking with 
ever more anxious face for his appearance. 

On the third day the Galileans heard the 
hermit suddenly shout : 

^^See! God's Lamb, who takes away the 
world's sin!" 

The Passover and its sacrifice were in the 
prophet's mind as he spoke. 

There was a rush toward the river. Noth- 
ing remarkable appeared to be happening. 
They looked toward the sky and across to the 
mountains of Moab. Down in the water stood 
the skin-clad prophet, a long file of people 
was passing him for the holy rite, but they 
were all common people. As he spoke he had 
come face to face with a young man, and he 
appeared to hesitate about performing the 
ceremony. The youth said something and he 
hesitated no longer, but looked up into heaven 
with the first smile on his face that men had 
ever seen. 

All the people were hushed in silence as the 
young man turned to come out of the water. 
Were they now to behold their Messiah ? 

The Galileans were dumb with amazement. 

It was the carpenter of Nazareth. 



A VOICE FROM THE DESERT 65 

Certain at last that he could become the 
Deliverer toward whom the centuries were 
pointing, Jesus had come among his people, 
to give his whole life to his Father's work. 



VII 
A BATTLE ROYAL 

The men from Galilee went back home dis- 
appointed. 

They believed that John the Baptizer was 
insane. As for their fellow townsman, whom 
he had so strangely pointed ont as their Mes- 
siah, he had immediately disappeared. 

The next day the prophet went on np the 
river, the multitude gradually dispersed and 
the Nazareth men went home. They were not 
only disgusted but angry, for they knew what 
ridicule they might expect in their native town 
to come home so tamely after so brave a de- 
parture. 

Was the prophet surprised to discover in 
Jesus the deliverer of whom he had dreamed ? 

The carpenter was John's own cousin. The 
clan spirit was mighty in Israel. More than 
that, their mothers were loving friends. The 
story has come down how Mary once went a 
hundred miles on foot to visit her noble kins- 
woman. 

We may be sure the two young men had 
often met as boys ; played together no doubt, 
tested each other 's strength, talked as they 



A BATTLE ROYAL 67 

grew older of the great things they would like 
to do, planned perhaps how they would do 
them, like brothers, together. 

Since they had become men grown they had 
seldom met. Jesus was a workingman, John 
became a hermit. Jesus went every year to 
the temple. John never went. There was no 
post in those days, so they could not write. 

But men do not soon forget the dreams of 
their boyhood. Neither had forgotten their 
noble plans or their covenant to help each 
other. 

Jesus was John's hero. And John? Jesus 
knew of his brave, lonely days in the desert. 
He longed to help him, now that he stood 
alone. He even longed to be like him. Jesus 
wished to leave his own safe, comfortable 
home, and take lessons of this sturdy teacher. 
Into John's desert, where none live but wild 
beasts, he would go. Jesus was by nature re- 
tiring and gentle. He would there learn the 
courage and the straight, clear speech that 
this prophet had. 

It had been easy up in the pleasant, quiet 
mountain village to dream of living a splendid 
life. But to come down here among the 
noisy, careless crowds was like stepping into 
a cold flood. To be baptized, with his fellow 
countrymen, by the dauntless prophet had 
been like the touch of knighthood. But would 
that consecration hold if he were left alone? 

Back into the bleak deserts whence John 



68 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

had come he went in the strength of God to 
meet the thoughts that were trying to tear 
him from the unselfish life to which he had 
pledged his sonL 

He had made a rude shelter in a cave and, 
according to an ancient custom of those pre- 
paring for noble devotion, denied himself 
food, so that his brain might be clear to think. 

Picture yourself, no matter how brave, re- 
moved from neighbors and the joyous face of 
nature, and shut up in a narrow, deep chasm,* 
with no sights but sand and rocks and grim 
shadows and the prowling forms of lions and 
jackals, and no sounds but their cries of cruel- 
ty and of terror. It was like the canons of 
New Mexico. Live thus for six weeks, through 
the cheerless days and the bleak nights, and 
where would be your pluck and cheer? 

Jesus ' thoughts at the end of this fast must 
have been like these : 

^^I am already forgotten. I am not a 
prophet. Nobody cares for my life. Why, I 
am even starving ! ' ' 

Jesus was not a hermit. He was a hearty 
young workingman. He suddenly found him- 
self faint and famished, with scarcely strength 
or time to seek human succor. 

Then a voice seemed to say : ^ ^ If you are 
a prophet, oh, if you are God's son— if you 
are— command this stone to become a loaf." 

He saw all about him the smooth loaf- 



* See Note 11. 



A BATTLE ROYAL 69 

shaped stones of the desert. He knew that 
since his baptism a mighty power had come 
upon him. He could save men from sickness 
and death. He could save others. Why not 
save himself I 

It was a little thing. It seemed harmless. 
Why not! Life was dear. Must God's last 
prophet die without speaking his message? 
Would that help the world any? Was it any- 
where written that the conquering Messiah 
must be starved to death? 

But stop. ^^ Would he so soon distrust that 
he was God's child because of the pangs of 
hunger ? He was going to teach men about a 
kingdom. Was that kingdom going to consist 
only of help for men's bodies? Was it going 
to begin with his looking after his own com- 
fort? And could not the king master even his 
own body ? Better die than yield ! ' ' 

So he quietly said, as though in a dialog 
with an unseen foe, the first word he had 
spoken aloud for many days : ' ^ It is written : 
Man shall not live by bread alone, ' ' 

Perhaps he found his way up the steep and 
dangerous path from the desert to the nearest 
village, and was given food. But he was not 
ready to go from the desert. There was an- 
other thing to settle. How would he do his 
work? 

Did he come to Jerusalem now, or was this 
a vision ? It seemed that he was walking upon 



70 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

the broad roof of the new portico,* that 
looked sheer down into the Kedron chasm, 
when another battle met him. Hundreds of 
feet below, in the roadways that lead from 
the mountain into the city, great numbers of 
people were returning from the Jordan. Be- 
hind him was the temple area where the 
priests were sacrificing, full of worshipers 
from many lands. 

Was not the old prophecy fulfilled : ^ ' The 
Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to 
his temple. ' ' Was it not just here among the 
crowds that every one expected the appear- 
ance of the long-awaited Messiah? Was not 
He that High Priest? 

A voice seemed to shout in his ear : ^ ^Leap 
down! Claim your kingdom at one blow. 
The ancient Scripture foretells that if you are 
the Son of God, angels shall alwa^^s protect 
you. In an instant the people will welcome 
you with shouts of joy.'' 

The idea was a fantastic one. But the sug- 
gestion behind the idea was reasonable. How 
could he lead men unless they believed in him? 
Could he persuade them any too soon? What 
was the use of waiting? And how could he 
do it better than here and now? The people 
were already excited to anticipation by John's 
teaching. Everybody expected that the Mes- 
siah would declare himself by some sensa- 
tional, even extravagant, action. One act of 

* See Note 12. 



A BATTLE ROYAL 71 

personal valor— only one— and victory! And 
if he failed, then better death. What brave 
youth would refuse such a challenge ? 

^^Ah, you are God's son, are you, and you 
have not a single sign of his protection or 
power," the voice kept saying. 

When he thought of himself, such a magic 
test seemed right. But when he thought of 
God, it was all wrong. To degrade God's 
majesty by the test of foolhardiness, no mat- 
ter how brave ? No ! 

^^Thou shalt not test the Lord thy God— so 
it is written. ' ' 

He seemed to find himself ere long at the 
border of the desert on a mountain summit 
that overlooks the Jordan at the place of his 
baptism. 

It is a wonderful view. The whole world 
seems spread out beneath. There is Jeru- 
salem on the west; far beyond those eastern 
cliffs is Babylon; the desert at the south 
stretches clear to Egypt. And down below 
shone Herod's marble palace, the emblem of 
Rome, beside the old pilgrim road that had 
been trodden by the armies of every conquer- 
ing race since the dawn of history. And yon- 
der danced the Jordan to its grave in the 
Dead Sea, an emblem of life, so bright, so 
brief. He remembered his mother's song and 
dreams: '^You will be a king some day." 
He saw the world. He saw himself, a man of 
might and destiny. 



72 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^ Quick!" said the voice once more. ^'If 
you are the Son of God— and surely you do 
not doubt it now— take the throne of the world 
to-day. You can have it! It is mine; it is 
yours, for it is your own voice you hear. Go 
forth and save the world." 

Yes, it was true. He could become a Caesar. 

And the Jews expected it. They believed 
their king would not only restore the king- 
dom to Israel and make Jerusalem again the 
city of the Great King, but they believed he 
would possess all kingdoms and the glory of 
them. Were they to be utterly disappointed? 
Was there to be no revenge for all their sor- 
rows ? Were the kingdoms of this world to be 
kept forever by cruel tyrants, and were men 
to suffer forever without a deliverer? What 
was his kingdom, anyway? 

Ah, he knew. Men looked for a Caesar, but 
they needed a Savior. The only kingdom that 
could help them was the kingdom of heaven, 
that is, of love. He could do without men^s 
crowns; he would bear men's crosses. 

^^ Conquer and succeed!" the voice shouted 
still louder. ^^ Refuse and be forgotten.'' 

Forgotten? Yes, it looked so. To be de- 
spised and rejected of men would be his lot. 
But, like a soldier who can not see anything 
but danger and duty, he dared it all, and si- 
lenced the tempting voice by this last rebuke 
to his own tempest-tossed heart : 

^^Get hence, you tempter! God alone is 



A BATTLE ROYAL 73 

king. Only to him shall you give homage; 
him only shall you, him only will I, serve." 

And so the greatest of all battles was won. 

Did some lonely shepherd watch him as he 
walked pale, calm, triumphant out of the 
desert? 

If so, little did he know that here came a 
king, mighty tho lone, a captain whose sword 
was henceforth, as an olden writer says, 
' ' bathed in Heaven. ' ' 



VIII 
NEW COMRADES 

FiSHEKMEN make famous comrades. 

They are strong, willing, patient, hopeful, 
and they live out doors most gladsomely. 

Jesus' desert life was over. Unlike John, 
he was to be no solitary hermit, but the 
world's friend. He needed a company of 
friends to help him. And John knew that 
the fishermen whom he had himself gathered 
and trained were just the men Jesus wanted. 

It was hard for John to let them go. John 
was a young man with his life before him. 
He had his fight, too. To let another step into 
your place, to hear him praised instead of 
yourself, to watch him doing the work you 
want to do— is there anything harder than 
that? 

But John did not flinch. He believed in 
Jesus ' greatness. He was true to his clan and 
to his hero. 

And he not only did it— he did it cheer- 
fully. 

^^He must increase. I must decrease," this 
unselfish man said. ^^You heard me say that 



NEW COMRADES 75 

I am not the Messiah. ' ' Then he added this 
beautiful sentence: ^^It is the groom, who 
leads home the bride, but it makes the groom's 
friend happy just to listen and hear the bride- 
groom 's voice." 

So he told the fishermen to prepare to go 
with Jesus. 

He was talking one day with two of them. 
The name of one was Andrew, of the other, 
John. They were both young men. John you 
will find particularly worth noticing. He was 
the first to follow Jesus. He became Jesus' 
dearest friend. He was the only one who 
stood by him to the last. As he outlived all 
the twelve, he was for years the only living 
comrade of Jesus on earth. 

He was probably the youngest of them all. 
He was a fiery, obstinate, ambitious, but lov- 
able fellow. He spent his last days, an exile, 
because he was true to Jesus, at work in the 
mines on a lonely island in the Mediterranean. 
When he was too old to remember anything 
else, it is said that he was accustomed to quote 
to everybody one sentence of Jesus : ' ' Love 
each other." ^^Why do you keep saying 
that?" they asked him. ^^ Because if you will 
do that," he answered, '^nothing else is nec- 
essary." So he is known as the Apostle of 
Love. 

As the three talked, they saw some one pass- 
ing them near the river. He was dressed in 
the common, striped garments of brown and 



76 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

white, worn by the peasants of upper Galilee. 
The fishermen were startled to hear the 
prophet suddenly exclaim, as he had at the 
baptism, ^ ' See ! God 's Lamb ! ' ' 

Then in a lower voice he said. ^^Go to 
him." 

It was Jesns. 

The two had met Jesns before, fishing by 
the lake and down beside the river, bnt then 
he was a carpenter. Now he was a rabbi. 
They felt timid. 

'^What shall we say?" whispered Andrew. 

The yonng man solved their difi&cnlty by 
turning around and asking courteously, 
^^What are you looking for?" 

^^Sir," said John, ^^ where are you living?" 

^^ Just come and see," he said with a smile. 

They followed him, and he went, not toward 
a village but toward the hills, and there they 
found a smoldering fire beside a running 
brook, evidently the stranger's camping-place. 
Their fear of him was soon gone when they 
found him living as they themselves often did 
in the fishing season. 

It was then about four in the afternoon. 
They spent the day with Jesus, and at night 
walked on to their own homes* beside the lake. 

Andrew had a favorite brother. The next 
morning, being the Sabbath, he persuaded him 
to walk out and call on the new teacher. 

^^The Messiah is here!" he told him. 



* See Note 13. 



NEW COMRADES 77 

^^ Where is he from?" asked incredulous 
Simon. 

' ' From Nazareth. ' ' 

' ' No prophet is coming from that place. ' ' 

' ' You come and see him, ' ' urged Andrew. 

He was a splendid fellow, this brother, 
straightforward and sturdy and with a shaggy 
head. He had a laughing eye and a ready 
speech, and his mouth, if not firm, was not 
unkindly. He came slowly up to Jesus, who 
was seated beside the camp-fire preparing din- 
ner. Jesus rose to meet him. 

The world knows how Jesus looked. The 
fisherman John has told us. His body was 
unusually tall and straight and strong, his 
hands were hard from toil, his feet were 
scorched by the desert, but it was his face 
that ennobled him. His hazel eyes were like a 
flame of fire, searching, eager, loving, and his 
whole countenance was radiant with health 
and joy, and his voice was as strong and musi- 
cal as the sound of falling waters. No man 
could look him in the eye whose heart was not 
clean, but a child would have run to him at 
once. 

The two men faced each other. Simon 
looked at Jesus and was satisfied. Jesus 
looked at Simon and measured him. He saw 
what you and I see now : the Giant among the 
followers of Jesus. Only a fisherman, unlet- 
tered and inexperienced, impulsive and nar- 
row-minded. But here was the man who 



78 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST v 

would lead all the others, be their spokesman 
and guide, and when the wall of the new tem- 
ple of the kingdom was being bnilt, his life 
would be the first great stone laid upon the 
Foundation, Christ himself. 

^^You are Simon," Jesus said at length. 
^^You will be called, ^ Peter,' the Man of 
Eocf 

Jesus was not giving him a new name. He 
was foretelling his character. Tell a man not 
what he is, but what he can be, and you win 
him. That sentence pleased the warm-hearted 
fisherman greatly. He gave Jesus his hand, 
and with it his heart. 

Young fishermen, one after another, kept 
coming out to Jesus' camp, until there were 
five. They all took to him. And as they sat 
and heard him tell stories by the camp-fire 
under the stars they thought him the finest 
comrade they had ever met. 

The trouble with the hermit prophet had 
been that after he had told his listeners to 
stop doing wrong, he had no other message 
for them. 

^^That is all very well," said Peter and 
John, ^^but we are not hermits. We are fish- 
ermen with homes and nets to attend to. After 
we have repented and stopped cheating and 
given away our extra garments, what comes 
next?" 

The prophet could not tell them. 

Jesus saw their difficult}^ They needed to 



NEW COMRADES 79 

see how to do God's will as the lonely hermit 
had never tried to do it, right where they 
lived, in the tasks and pleasures of every day. 
How could he make this plain? 

Just then all five were invited with Jesus 
to a wedding ! 

What ! A worldi to save and its Savior off 
to a wedding? 

Why not? 

For it is a world in which homes and mar- 
riages and children and living with each 
other are the constant things and the chief 
things. 

Jesus saved the world, by laying his life 
alongside men's lives, in their gladness just 
as much as in their grief. 

John would have been an uncomfortable 
guest at such a place, and he would have made 
everybody else uncomfortable, too. The first 
step in the education of John's friends was 
for them to learn that to be happy and to make 
others happy was the very life of the new 
kingdom. 

It was perhaps two days' tramp from the 
deep Jordan valley up across the plain of 
Esdraelon to Nazareth. Here they called for 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and then all 
walked on together to a little village on the 
tablelands beyond. The bride was probably 
a relative of Jesus, perhaps his sister. 

It was nearly night when they arrived. 
They had hardly refreshed themselves with 



80 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

food when it was time for the bridal* proces- 
sion to start. It reminded him of the play- 
time of his boyhood. They seized torches, 
like the rest, and hastened with songs to 
escort the bride and her group of damsels to 
her future home. As soon as the night had 
fallen she emerged from her chamber in her 
fairest robes, decked with flowers and covered 
with a flowing veil. 

The song of compliment grew louder. 

^^ Ah, ha ! her red cheeks are her own, 
Her hair hangs waving as it grew, ' ' 

the bridesmaids carolled. Wine and oil were 
shared by the older people at this moment, 
and nuts were scattered among the children. 

It was a weird but merry sight when the 
little company came out from the cottage and 
passed down the narrow street, the torches 
flaring and throwing up gigantic shadows on 
every side, the flute and drum marking a 
dancing step, and all, old and young, singing 
the bridal song. 

When they were near the bridegroom's 
house he and his young friends came out to 
meet them, and both bands melted into one, 
as they crossed his threshold to the feast. 

It was not a ceremony in high life, but they 
were just as happy as anybody could have 
been in kings' palaces. 

The next day, while the feast continued, 

* See Note 14, 



NEW COMRADES 81 

something very embarrassing occurred. The 
wine gave out. 

The groom in making his purchases had 
not counted on the five Capernaum fishermen 
who had so unexpectedly joined the company. 

The mother of Jesus, who was in charge in 
the kitchen, first noticed the impending dif- 
ficulty. She did not want to tell the guests 
or the host. What could she do ? 

She would tell her son. She had not leaned 
on him for twenty years in vain. She re- 
membered the promise that she had awaited 
so long. She knew his strange powers, and 
that since he had given his whole life to God 
in the Jordan they were now ready to be used. 
What better place to claim his kingdom than 
among his own proud kinsmen? Thus would 
she share his fame. 

But how foolish she was! The kingdom 
from which Jesus would not borrow a loaf 
for his hunger was not intended to be used to 
open the mouths of his family with wonder. 

And yet it was because of his own com- 
panions that the wine had failed. 

^Tiat would he do? 

She called him away from the company, 
among whom none was more happy than he, 
and said, ^^ Jesus, they have no more wine." 

And he, seeing the fond and ambitious look 
in her eyes, answered her in the pleasant, re- 
spectful fashion with which sons used to ad- 
dress their mothers, ^^My lady, why must that 



82 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST v 

be a care to you and to me?" And then he 
added, ^^My time is not yet come/' 

Mary was perfectly relieved, altho she had 
no idea what he meant or what he wonld do, 
and she said to the two little serving maids 
who were trudging from kitchen to banquet 
room and back again, ^^ Whatever he says to 
you, do it." 

You know what he did. So delicately that 
no one but these children knew it, he sup- 
plied the lack in such a bountiful way that the 
groom was even praised for his generosity. 
And John and the other fishermen did not 
learn what had happened until Mary told 
them on the way home. 

When the festivities were over, Jesus and 
his mother and the fishermen walked back to- 
gether clear to Capernaum. It was the last 
time Jesus would see his mother for a year. 
The purpose of bringing her to the lakeside 
village was to let her choose a new home, for 
Jesus saw that for his kind of life this larger 
and more central town would be a better place 
for him to live than the village where he was 
brought up. 

You will find Capernaum on your maps 
marked as being on the northwest shore of 
the beautiful harp-shaped Lake of Galilee. 
But it has entirely disappeared, and nobody 
to-day is sure just where it was. But at that 
time Capernaum was a beautiful place. John 
had lived alone in the lonely wastes near the 



NEW COMRADES 83 

Dead Sea waters, and made the people come 
out to find him, but Jesus went to live amongst 
men and chose his home in a bright and busy 
city. Its white walls were reflected in a 
limpid lake, which lay deep among yellow 
hills, a sapphire sea in a cup of gold. It lay 
along a shining beach. Its gardens, its trees 
and its flowers were everywhere famous. The 
little lake upon which it fronted was five hun- 
dred feet below the level of the sea, and con- 
sequently it had a hot and fertile climate. 
There were many other lively towns by its 
shore, too, in the largest of which stood the 
new Golden House, a palace of their Roman 
king. 

It was rather early for the fishing season, 
and in a few days Jesus and his new friends 
were off on another long tramp together. 
They were going to the capital to the Pass- 
over. 

They passed down the Jordan valley, walk- 
ing two by two upon the narrow footpath. 
Can you not imagine their eager conversation 
as they reached one historic spot after an- 
other, their songs on the way, their meetings 
with old friends, and the good times beside 
the camp-fire? It was on this journey that 
Jesus probably saw John, the baptizer, for 
the last time in his life. 

Jesus was going to the feast, as all the men 
of his nation went, to do honor to the ancient 
custom, but as he sometimes walked alone 



84 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

ahead of the others, he was thinking of what 
he might do at that feast that would help his 
people. 

He did not have to wait to find out. 

You know how he loved the temple. He 
always spoke of it tenderly as his ^'Father's 
house. ' ' Every true Israelite so loved it. It 
was not only the central house of prayer to 
the Jews in all the world, but it was to them 
all that our Capitol at Washington, our White 
House, our national library, our noble old uni- 
versities, are, all in one. 

Now at this feast Jews coming from all the 
world brought their gifts in foreign coin, 
which must be changed into Jewish money. 
All who came must also purchase victims for 
the sacrifices. So the little shops of money- 
brokers and enclosures of those who sold cat- 
tle, sheep and doves had gradually filled the 
narrow streets below the temple, and of late 
had crept up into the very temple courts 
themselves. These courts, which were very 
broad and which had always been reserved 
for foreigners who came to learn of the He- 
brews ^ God, were now so filled with cattle that 
even these worshipers w^ere crowded out. 
Somebody, of course, was making money out 
of these privileges. Some say the high priest 
himself. And the worst of the wretched busi- 
ness was that the people were helpless. If 
they bought their lambs down in the city 
shop^, the priests, who decided whether the 



NEW COMRADES 85 

animals were clean for sacrifice or not, might 
refuse to accept them, so that they were 
forced to buy in the temple at a double price. 

All the way to the capital the people were 
telling Jesus these facts. All the time he was 
considering how he could stand up for them in 
their wrongs. 

As soon as he reached the city he hurried 
to the temple that he might see for himself. 

You can picture the disgraceful scene : the 
stench of the animals steaming in the warm 
April sun, the lowing of oxen, the bleating of 
sheep, the rustling of frightened doves, the 
clink of money and the loud protests of trade, 
drowning out the prayers of the priests and 
the chant of the temple children in the House 
of God! 

Jesus pushed his way through this throng 
and stood on the steps above, surrounded by 
the five fishermen. Nobody knew him. The 
whole power of the priests and of the Eoman 
city police was behind these merchants. The 
people had gotten so accustomed to the sight 
that they were indifferent. 

It is not easy, is it, to speak out against what 
everybody accepts as right? Especially when 
those who are doing the wrong are successful, 
well protected, and well thought of? It is 
not pleasant to be called ' ' singular. ' ' It was 
particularly hard for Jesus, for he was a 
quiet body, not a bully or a braggart. And 



86 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

one would hesitate before risking his life for 
his own opinion in a case like this. 

But that is just what Jesus did. He did 
not wait until he had gathered an armed com- 
pany. He did not even ask the help of those 
he had. He just grasped up from the floor 
a bunch of the rushes with which it was car- 
peted and, armed with this apology for a 
whip, secured the attention of all by a shout. 

We can imagine some spectator telling what 
follows : 

^^With towering figure and majestic step 
he advanced, flaming-eyed, first upon the cat- 
tle dealers, and drove their beasts and tHe low 
crowd of attendants from the doors and down 
the broad steps. He upset the tables of 
money. Even to those who sold doves he 
came; there he hesitated, gently, lest the in- 
nocent birds should be injured. He then said 
sternly, ^Take them from this place. Do not 
turn my Father 's house into a market place.' 

^'The news of this courageous act spread 
at once through the thousands that thronged 
the city. The Passover had always been 
anticipated by us as the time for seizing our 
independence. But this deed did not, as the 
fishermen expected, bring Jesus great crowds 
of volunteers. We were too frightened to act. 
He had delivered us from injustice, but he 
had gone no farther. He was alone. He had 
raised no army. He had issued no proclama- 
tions. He had acted like a prophet rather 



kl 







From the drawing by J. M. H. Hofmann 

JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE 



NEW COMRADES 87 

than as king. Would not onr real king send 
the Eoman soldiers to destroy this usurper 
of authority?'' 

The teachers of religion were in session on 
the sunny porch where Jesus as a boy, twenty 
years before, had asked them questions, when 
this startling news came to them. They 
should have been delighted. They were sim- 
ply dumbfounded. They sent a committee at 
once to Jesus, who was still in the temple. 

^^What sign can you show us, to prove that 
you have a right to act in this way?" they 
demanded sternly. 

The people of the East are fond of puzzles. 
These wise men liked to give puzzle-answers. 
Jesus remembered some of the puzzles these 
same men had told him as a boy to bewilder 
him when he was seeking the truth. So he 
gave them another, to think upon. 

^^ Destroy this temple," he answered with 
a smile, pointing to his own body, ^^and in 
three days I will raise it up. ' ' 

^'But," stammered an old man who was 
looking about him at the temple— one of the 
wonders of the world— and had not noticed 
the meaning of the gesture of Jesus, ^^But 
this temple has been fully forty-six years 
building (indeed it was still unfinished), and 
how are you going to raise it up again in 
three days?" 

Jesus left them to think it over. 

Many years later John and the others 



88 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

solved the puzzle. Brick and stone do not 
make a temple. This marble building jammed 
with cattle was no longer a temple. The best 
temple of Grod is a man. 

The priests could not forget Jesus' words. 
Three years after this these same men brought 
these words up against Jesus as evidence 
when they tried him for his life. 

As the fishermen were walking out that 
evening to their camp on the hill, talking ex- 
citedly of this exploit of their young leader, 
who was a guest in John's city house that 
night, one of them named Nathaniel, said to 
the others: 

^^Well, it was a fine deed! And do you 
know he brought to my mind that old saying, 
^Zeal for Thy house shall even devour me.' 
For the sake of our holy faith I believe our 
master would give his very life. ' ' 

As the result of this brave act only one man 
came to believe in the Nazarene. It was 
Nicodemus, one of this college of the wise 
men, and even he did not dare stand up for 
his faith until it was too late to be of any use. 

So after all, it was to a sad bed that Jesus 
went that Passover night. 



A WELLSIDE DIALOG 

What was the plan of Jesus ' life ? 

He was to become a king, was he not? 

But he had not yet won his kingdom. 
' Did you ever realize that he had a plan of 
campaign just as much as did Napoleon or 
Caesar? 

I can show you something of his purpose 
by a story. 

He had decided to begin his work by help- 
ing John the Baptizer. And so into gray, 
stony Judea he went, baptizing as John had 
done, and teaching the words John was teach- 
ing. 

He came one hot summer day at about noon 
to a well in the land of Samaria, that region 
of half-pagan country between the capital 
and his home. It is possible that he took this 
route because it was no longer safe to go by 
the Jordan way, where the king had just 
seized upon John and put him in jail. 

This well* was that famous one, dug by 
Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, when he was 
a shepherd-chief in this valley. He had often 
passed it and he always stopped beside it to 

* See Notes 15 and 16. 



90 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

rest. It stood alone in the midst of a broad, 
fertile meadow, and here Jesus, exhausted, 
threw himself down in the grassy shade, while 
the hungry fishermen were foraging for food. 

The Samaritans were, as I have told you, a 
mongrel lot, like the dogs in their streets, and 
the Jews would no more think of speaking to 
them than to a dog. Yet they had the same 
hopes and dreams as did the Jew. Perhaps 
there was something good in them. The 
young man at the well proposed to find out. 

His drowse was interrupted by the rustle 
of some one approaching, and when he saw 
that it was a woman with a water pitcher he 
rose to his feet. 

She was a n'er-do-well from the near-by 
village, a silly, sinful woman. She told her- 
self that she came out here at this uncomfort- 
able hour because of her reverence for this 
sacred water, but the fact was that the other 
women who came to the well in the village 
would have nothing to do with her. 

She had quickened her pace when she saw 
that there was a man at the well, but stood 
still when she saw that he was a Jew and a 
rabbi. 

So they faced each other. If lives are like 
books, his was a heroic history in a golden 
binding, hers was a paper-covered novel. 

Surely he would ignore her. In those days 
a rabbi would not address a woman, much less 
a Samaritan one. 



A WELLSIDE DIALOG 91 

An hour later a wild-eyed woman in the 
village square was saying in an awed yet 
eager voice to all she met : 

' ' Come ! come ! See the man who has told 
me all that ever I did!" 

What had happened ? 

This was her story. 

She told of going out to the well and meet- 
ing a Jewish rabbi. 

' ' I had just let down my water pot into the 
well, when, with a start, I heard him say, 
' Will you give me a drink ? ' 

''I filled my water jar slowly, saying with 
a smile, ^You must be very thirsty if you, 
who are a Jew, will ask a drink of me, a 
Samaria woman. ' 

^^ ^If you knew God's free gift,' the stranger 
answered gently, ' and who it is that asks you 
for a drink, you would have asked him for 
Water of Life— and he would have given it 
to you. ' 

^^I set my jar down by the well and looked 
up saucily at him. 

'' ^You can not be a greater man,' said I, 
^than our forefather Jacob, who gave us this 
well and drank here himself with all his sons 
and his cattle ? ' 

" ^But if anyone drinks of this water they 
will become thirsty again,' said this strange 
man, ^ while, if they drink that water that I 
can give, they will be thirsty nevermore. ' 

** *Ah, me !' said I (with lazy mockery), 4et 



92 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

me haye this water, so that I shall not thirst 
and not need to come clear out here to draw. ^ 

'' ^Go,' said the young rabbi sternly, ^and 
call your husband and come here with him. ^ 

^^I had gone too far. 

^^ ^I haven't any husband,' I said with 
downcast head. 

" ^Very true,' answered he, and he told me 
what you all know of my wretched history. I 
confess I was not just then so much ashamed 
to hear it as perplexed to see how he had 
found it all out. 

' ^ ^ I see, sir, ' I answered more respectfully, 
Hhat you must be a sort of a prophet.' It 
was fs. good chance to change the subject. 
^Now our fathers have always worshiped on 
this hilltop,' and I pointed to our temple on 
the mountain. ^But in Jerusalem is where 
you say people ought to worship. ' 

^^For the first time the Jew used the title 
of respectful address. ^ Woman,' he said, 
^believe me, a time must come when neither 
here nor there will true worshipers worship 
the father. Men will then worship Him every- 
where, in spirit and truth. For God is a 
spirit and it is in spirit that men must wor- 
ship him. ' 

(He was trying to tell her what he had said 
to the doctors : the true temple of God is man.) 

^*But I am no thinker, and I yawned : 

^^ ^Ah, well, I suppose that some time the 



A WELLSIDE DIALOG 93 

Messiah is coming. When he comes he will 
explain everything to ns.' 

i i fji]^^ rabbi towered above me. 

^^ ^I am he— I who speak to you!' he said. 

^^At this moment the fishermen, his com- 
panions, came up. I was overcome by these 
fearful words, and frightened by the sus- 
picious looks of those strangers. I forgot my 
pitcher and hurried back. ' ' 

When she reached the village gate she was 
only able to sob out to the few curious people 
who were sitting in the square this strange 
story and to repeat : 

^^ Come— oh, come— see a man— who told 
me all—that ever I did. Who is hef 

Her neighbors would go a good way to see 
anybody who could do that. 

^^Eabbi, will you not eat?" said Peter cold- 
ly, displeased that Jesus should have had any 
conversation with such a person. 

^^I have had meat to eat that you do not 
know about, ' ' answered Jesus with a smile. 

^^Who has given him any food?" asked 
John. 

^^It is meat to me," said Jesus simply, ^^to 
do my Father's will." And taking up the 
woman's water pitcher, he led the way toward 
the village. The rest trailed on in discom- 
fiture. 

^^Four months, you say?" he turned and 
replied, as he heard one of them comment on 
the lateness of the spring, ^^ before harvest 



94 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

comes? Look!" He pointed to a group of 
people that was pouring out of the village 
gate. ^^Look on the fields. They are whiten- 
ing for harvest even now. ' ' 

Three days later he left a happy village be- 
hind him. And some of her old neighbors 
were overheard saying to the woman, ^^Now 
we believe in him— but not because of any- 
thing you said. But we have heard for our- 
selves and we believe that He is the Savior 
of the world. ' ' 

This story is a sample of his first campaign. 
He did not wait for crowds, and he did not 
organize crusaders. He started with the com- 
mon people, anybody he happened to meet, 
and he just gave them all the best he had. 
His business was helpfulness. If he could get 
men to do like him he would have a whole 
Kingdom of Helpers, he would reap his har- 
vest, he could save the world. 



X 

A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 

Finding that lie was becoming so popular 
in Judea that the friends of John were get- 
ting jealous of him, Jesus decided not to allow 
himself to be the slightest hindrance to the 
great leader, and he at once turned north to 
Galilee. 

The Galileans had heard of his exploit at 
the Passover, and exaggerated stories of his 
marvelous powers had reached them. These 
patriots, unlike the people of the city, wel- 
comed him with open arms. 

On a day before the Sabbath, in early May, 
he arrived at Nazareth. The fishermen had 
now all gone back home and his mother had 
moved down to Capernaum. As soon as he 
came into the village he went about to see his 
brothers and his old friends and playmates. 
But he found that, even during his short 
absence, they had changed toward him. No 
longer did they meet him with the same frank 
friendship, and, while they were evidently all 
longing to watch him perform some wonder 
in the village square, they were plainly jeal- 
ous and suspicious of him. 



96 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

He went to church the next morning, and 
for the first time he accepted the invitation 
to ascend the platform and take the roll of 
the sacred writings in his hand to read and 
explain. 

The women were in the rear gallery behind 
a screen, so that the audience that was in 
sight was an andience of men. Some were 
old schoolmates, others, younger men, were 
of those who had been down to the Jordan 
and had come back disgruntled. There were 
even boys crowded close to the platform and 
against the wall. All awaited him with eager 
curiosity. 

It had now been nearly a year since his at- 
tendance at the village wedding near by. 
There he had first shown his generous kind- 
ness, in far-off Jerusalem he had proclaimed 
himself as a leader, and in the other Galilean 
towns, and even in despised Samaria he had 
lingered. But in Nazareth he had never 
spoken a public word nor done a deed of 
power. Now surely he was going to exhibit 
his prophetic might and make Nazareth the 
center of all his work. 

It was a warm springtime day. The doors 
were opened so that those who could not 
crowd in could hear. The blossoms sent their 
fragrance within, a grape-vine shaded the 
doorway and the house-doves could be heard 
cooing in the eaves. It was a Sabbath of rest 
and peace. 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 97 

The Jewish service consisted, like onrs, of 
praise and prayer and address. But there 
was no regular preacher. Any one might 
teach and anybody else might interrupt by 
question or debate. 

Jesus ' text was from Isaiah, a chapter about 
Israel's coming Deliverer. He read a few 
words, then closed the roll and gave it to the 
attendant and sat down to speak. Every eye 
was upon him. 

^^ To-day/' he began, ^^has this Scripture 
been fulfilled in your hearing. ' ' 

He went on to show how, just as the prophet 
had described, he himself was teaching good 
tidings to the poor, release to captives, sight 
to blind men, and freedom to everybody. 

^^ Where did he get his book-learning T' 
asked one, half aloud. ' ' He has had no other 
schooling than ours. ' ' 

^^Yes,'' one whispered to another, ^^he is 
only the carpenter, our Joseph's son." 

And still another said, ^^We all know who 
Mary, his mother, is, and his brothers James 
and Judas and Simon. ' ' 

^^Yes, and his sisters live here now." 

^^ Listen," said another. ^^He is going to 
make Nazareth a glorious place. What works 
of power he has done with his hands else- 
where ! ' ' 

Soon all forgot everything but the comfort- 
ing words he was saying about the kingdom 
of help and love which was to come. It was 



98 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST "" 

not preaching. It was conversation. He told 
them apt stories, stories from their own work 
and play; at which they smiled or looked 
thoughtful; he used the homely proverbs 
which were their common coin of speech. 
They could understand every word he said. 

Then he took up plainly their complaint 
because he had removed his mother's home 
to Capernaum and had done his public work 
in places so far from his bringing up. Boldly 
he answered that they themselves had already 
driven him to this step. Did he not love 
Nazareth? Did he not long to do glorious 
deeds in her streets? For was not this the 
place where he had studied the holy books? 
Was not Joseph sleeping here in the village 
burying ground ? 

' ' But, ' ' he said, ' ' a prophet is never want- 
ing honors except in his own country and 
among his own folk. ' ' And he reminded them 
how even their own Elijah was forced to leave 
his own land to work in Tyre, and Elisha had 
never healed anybody but a foreigner, and he 
a leper. 

A growl of anger had been heard while he 
was saying these words, which, when he began 
to appeal to his audience for witness to the 
truth of what he was saying, grew into a roar 
of rage. The disappointed Nazarenes could 
stand this no longer. ^^Did the carpenter's 
son think they were less worthy than Assyrian 
lepers ? Were they to be scorned and ignored 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 99 

by such as he, a son of their own streets?" 
The congregation became a mob. 

The yonnger men were the leaders, the 
older ones who had been Jesus' playmates 
were so excited that they did not restrain 
them, and the hot-headed crowd seized the 
speaker and dragged him outdoors and up 
past his old home to the hillside where he had 
played as a boy. 

But when they came to its precipice, and 
would have murdered him, he turned and 
faced them. He was not afraid. He did not 
use his power to smite them dead. He looked 
them through and through. What happened 
next? All they knew was that they found 
themselves in a huddled group watching him 
walk quietly down the hill and down the path 
to the valley, until he was out of sight. 

This was the only shadow upon a bright 
summer. Henceforth he gave himself with 
passionate love to Galilee, but Nazareth knew 
him no more. 

He went directly to Capernaum to his 
mother 's house. And now began his cloudless 
days by the lake shore. Everybody loved him 
here. It seemed as if all the love that he had 
won as a boy had followed down here to the 
lake to bless him as a man. 

The very next morning he went out to meet 
his new neighbors. Not in the cool, quiet 
church or the neat village square, but down 
by the shore, where the smell of fish was 



100 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

everywhere and where the bare-legged fisher- 
men were pushing out their stout boats and 
the women were cleaning fish in the shade of 
those drawn up on the sand. 

As he began to speak the good-natured 
crowd jostled him, so that he smiled and 
paused, and laying his hand on the rail of a 
boat that was grounded on the beach, he leapt 
upon it and sat on the stern seat. 

It happened to be Simon's, and as he 
glanced down and saw its owner washing out 
his nets he gave him a friendly nod, and then 
talked on, the boat rocking beneath him in 
the blue ripples sparkling in the sun. 

When he was through speaking he came 
down where Simon was and said, ^^Come, 
push out into deep water and you all throw 
out the nets for a haul. ' ' 

' ' We have been hard at work all night, sir, ' ' 
said Simon, ^^and have not caught anything. 
But, as you say so, I will throw the nets out.'' 

Simon and Andrew and their father Jonas 
launched the boat, and soon they enclosed 
such a school of fish that the nets began to 
break. They had to signal to John and 
James, their mates in another boat, to come 
and help them. And they filled both boats so 
full of fish that they were almost sinking. 

It was only a deed of kindness, a sort of 
payment for the use of his boat, but Simon 
was overwhelmed by the generosity of his 
friend. 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 101 

As soon as he got ashore he threw himself 
at Jesus ' knees and exclaimed : 

^^ Master, leave me, for I am a wicked 
man ! ' ' 

Jesus grasped his hand as he had on the 
first day they met, and cried heartily : 

^^ Don't lose heart! From to-day yon shall 
catch living men. Follow me now," he said 
to the other f onr yonng fishers who had been 
with him at Jerusalem, ' ' and I will make you 
fishers for men." As soon as they had 
brought their boats in and hung up their nets, 
Ithey obtained permission of their parents, 
said good-by to their friends, and followed 
Jesus everywhere. 

It was wonderful the way he would win 
strong men to himself. A man would be at 
work in his business, thoroughly intent on his 
own work and his money. Suddenly he was 
gone. He would be heard of miles away, 
trudging over the hillpaths or camping in the 
woods, tired, penniless, but perfectly happy. 
And when he was asked why he went or what 
he was seeking, he would simply point joyous- 
ly to Jesus. It was He, the great Companion, 
the Man with the singing heart, more than 
what he said or did, that had charmed the 
man from all he used to love. 

One of those who felt the magic spell of 
Jesus has told how he came to follow him. 
His story of that great day in his own life is 
also a picture of the whole plan of this new 



102 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

Galilean campaign. You have all read his 
written story, but when he told it aloud per- 
haps it was like this : 

^^The night before I came to Jesus, he, find- 
ing that the crowd would not give him time 
even to sleep, had crossed the lake in a boat 
and, tired out, took his rest on the hard wood- 
en bench in the stern. 

^^ Suddenly one of our unexpected storms 
from the cold mountains above swept down 
upon them. The starry heavens grew dark 
in a moment, a sheet of fog swept over them, 
the waves rose and tossed, and whenever the 
mist lifted the fishermen saw the white foam 
rush along the taffrail and dash over, even to 
Jesus' feet. Their sail was well furled and 
they bent to their huge oars to keep the boat 
steady, but in vain. Helpless in the grip of 
the tempest, they became frantic with fear. 

^^The nearest shook Jesus by the arm and 
roused him. 

'' ^Wake, captain!' he yelled hoarsely. 
^We are sinking.' 

^ ^ Jesus leaped to his feet. 

'^ ^Cowards!' he shouted. ^Pull hard! 
Take heart ! ' 

^^And in the noise of the gale they could 
hear him shout as if he would also challenge 
even the wild waves. 

^ ^ Their courage came back, and as the wind 
dropped and the waters grew still, one of the 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 103 

sailors whispered to another, looking from his 
oar to the fearless face of his captain : 

' ' ' Can he give orders even to the winds and 
the waters ? ' 

^^At the other side there came ont from a 
cave-tomb down to the wharf to meet him a 
giant maniac. He was a most fearsome sight. 
He was fonl and naked, and npon his mighty 
arms and legs were broken pieces of the 
chains with which men had tried in vain to 
hold him. Here he lived in the rocks, shouting 
and yelling and gashing his body in his peri- 
ods of rage with the sharp flint, and nobody 
now ever dared come near him. The fisher- 
men quailed before this fiend as he loomed 
over them in the moonlight at the landing. 

^^But Jesus stepped quietly out and faced 
him. 

^^ Would not the wild man tear him in 
pieces ? 

^^No. He fell humbly at his knees and em- 
braced them, crying out in a shrill, piteous 
voice : 

" ^What is there between thee and me, 
Jesus ? Son of God most high ! I adjure thee, 
torment me not.' 

^^For Jesus was saying gently, ^Come forth, 
thou foul spirit.' 

^^An hour later some of the simple shep- 
herds of the region ventured around the 
shadowed crags, and there they saw Jesus 



104 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

seated beside the giant, who was now clothed 
and in sound mind. 

' ' They were so superstitions that they were 
alarmed at the power Jesns had shown over 
this mighty man, and they made signs at him, 
entreating him to leave their coast. As Jesns 
went toward his boat to do so, the healed giant 
followed him, still talking reverently with 
him. And when he understood that Jesus was^ 
now going away he was heard by the fisher- 
men to beg eagerly : 

' ' ' Let me be with you, Jesus. Let me, too, 
be one of those who follow after you. ' 

^^ ^Go back to your own home,' said Jesus 
gently, ^go to your old friends, and tell them 
what great things God has done for you. ' 

' ' And through all that region, known as the 
League of the l^en Cities, did the giant tell 
of the majesty of the mercy of God. 

^ ' Driven from this hostile shore, Jesus and 
his friends spent the rest of the night in the 
tossing boat anchored close to the land. 

^^At earliest daylight they recrossed the 
lake to Capernaum, and Jesus went to his 
home. The people were already waiting for 
him. 

^^This* house where Jesus and Mary lived 
had a flat roof. In the center was a courtyard, 
and around the second story of this ran a 
covered gallery. Here sat Jesus, and spoke 
to the people who filled the gallery and the 

* See Note 19. 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 105 

upper rooms and the courtyard below. I was 
among them. As always, he began by saying, 
' The waiting-time is over ! The Kingdom of 
God has come ! Turn now and trust the Joy- 
ful Message ! ' 

' ' That morning a group of young men had 
gone to the outskirts of the town to make a 
call upon a friend of theirs who was para- 
lyzed. The unfortunate fellow had no use of 
his limbs whatever, and he lay all day help- 
less upon his couch. 

^^ While they were going they talked about 
this Healer who was living in their home 
town, and they were wishing that he could be 
brought to visit their friend. This seemed 
presumptuous to expect. For, like most of 
the people of their time, they believed that 
this visitation of sickness was because of some 
sin which their friend had committed. 

" ^Well, then, let's take him to the Healer, 
if the Healer can't be brought to him,' cried 
the most energetic of the quartet. 

' ' They were full of this idea when they en- 
tered the sick man's house. 

' ' But the sufferer, discouraged and peevish 
because of his complaint, would have nothing 
to do with the plan. 

^^ ^It will do no good. It would kill me to 
be lifted, and I should come back worse off 
than before,' he replied. 

^^Then they all argued with him, and as 
they discussed they grew more confident. 



106 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

They became insistent. Finally they fairly 
overwhelmed the helpless man with their talk 
andj still against his will, they proceeded at 
once to carry him into the town. 

' ' He was resting npon a light, narrow pallet, 
such as poor people use, and it was not dif- 
ficult to lift it by the four corners with the 
paralytic upon it. 

^^With infinite care, not to jostle or disturb, 
they broke step and conducted him to the 
home of Jesus. 

^' Jesus was in the very midst of his dis- 
course when we heard a commotion below, 
loud talking without and angry replies within. 
Then there was silence. 

^^A little later we could hear people 
scrambling up the stairway that ran outside 
the house wall, and when they found they 
could not get in even to the crowded upper 
rooms, they kept clambering on up to the 
roof.* 

'^Pretty soon there was a tearing sound, 
then we were nearly suffocated with dust, and 
then there came an opening to the sunlight. 
These people were pulling off the clay cover 
and ripping up the round rails that constituted 
the roof. 

^^What were they about? 

^^It was impossible for Jesus to speak or 
for us to listen in such confusion. But Jesus 
sat in patience, and before long we saw four 

* See Note 18. 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 107 

flushed and anxious faces peering over the 
broken edge above. 

^' ^All right!' a voice exclaimed. In an 
instant a mattress was gently lowered by two 
ropes, until it touched the floor, we all made 
way, and the sick man was laid before Jesus. 

' ' With all the loving care of his friends he 
had been considerably shaken up by his jour- 
ney. He was still more disturbed inwardly 
at the shock of his removal, and that he 
should be thus unceremoniously exposed be- 
fore a crowd of people, convinced as he was 
that it would amount to nothing but his own 
humiliation. 

' ' The only persons who believed in his cure 
were those four excited fellows who were 
gently handling the ropes that had held up the 
pallet of straw. It was certainly an embar- 
rassing and vexing interruption to the sermon. 

^^But Jesus looked up and could not forbear 
a smile at the eager and painstaking trust of 
the four youths. So he turned to the sick 
man, who lay white and with closed eyes on 
the floor, and said gravely to him: ^ Child, 
your sins are forgiven.' 

This unexpected remark was very startling 
to the delegates from the Jerusalem teachers 
of the sacred law, sent to keep watch of Jesus, 
who sat close by, and it set them to buzzing 
among themselves. 

" ^Well, which is easier,' said Jesus, ^to 
say, ^^Your sins are forgiven," or ^^Eise up 



108 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

and walkr ' But in order that you may know 
that the Son of Man has authority on earth 
even to forgive sins, I say to you, ' he added, 
turning again to the palsied one, ^Rise and 
roll up your pallet and walk home. ' 

^^ And at once the man got up ! He took up 
what he had been lying on and, when he found 
that he could really walk, he went out, thank- 
ing Jesus and praising God, to his own house. 

^^The four young men on the roof were ap- 
parently even more grateful and happy than 
he, and the words of praise with which Jesus 
continued his address were a sufficient reward 
to them for their unselfish faith. 

^^At noon people in the East generally take 
a nap, but Jesus, unlike his countrymen, often 
kept busy all day. 

^^He left his home later— was it to get lum- 
ber to make the needed repairs?— and went 
down to the beach. There by the gate that 
covered the highway between Damascus and 
the capital I sat at my tax-collecting booth, 
figuring up my accounts. 

^^You all know what is thought of men of 
my class. Partly because we are often dis- 
honest, partly because we represent the hated 
foreigners, we are ranked with assassins and 
highway robbers. 

^' ^Matthew, follow me,' said Jesus. 

^^ Without a word,- 1 got up and followed 
him, leaving my business forever. 

^^I was so touched at being thus honored 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 109 

that I at once invited Jesns to my house to 
dinner. 

'^It was a thoughtless and hasty idea of 
mine. For it was one thing to talk in the 
street with a man who had been a publican 
and it was another thing to go to his home 
and be his guest. 

^^But my Master never flinched. He stood 
by me. 

^^He turned to some curious passers who 
overheard. 

^' ^It isn't the strong and well that need a 
doctor,' he said to them boldly. ^It is those 
that are sick. It is not the pious, but the god- 
less that I have come to win. ' ' ' 

Matthew was not only an educated man, but 
he was a thoughtful one. He seems always 
to be listening, seldom speaking. And it was 
to no little advantage that he listened and re- 
membered so well. For when Jesus was gone 
and the world was eager not to forget his 
words, Matthew, the only educated man 
among Jesus' friends, was one of the first, 
not only to tell, but to write down the story 
of his life. 

In the midst of his dinner Jesus was inter- 
rupted again. A village councillor rushed in 
through the open door, sobbing with grief. 

^ ' Master ! " he cried. ' ' My little daughter 
is even now dead. But come, place your hand 
upon her and she will be restored to life. ' ' 

Jesus got up and hastened after him. 



V 

110 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

The crowd followed. 

On the way a poor woman who was ill 
pressed her lips to the fluttering fringe of his 
garment and was cured. 

In the street in front of the ruler's house 
the paid mourners were already chanting the 
sorrow of the house to the loud strains of 
flutes. 

Within were the wailing mother and sisters. 

A messenger met them to say that the child 
had just breathed her last. Why trouble the 
teacher more? 

^ ^ Be of good heart, ' ' whispered Jesus with 
his hand in the councillor's. ^^Only have 
faith." 

At the door he hushed the singers to si- 
lence. 

' ' Why all this confusion ? " he said cheerily. 
^^The little one is not dead. She is only 
asleep. ' ' 

Shrilly they laughed him to scorn. 

He beckoned to Simon, John and James to 
follow him, and sent the rest away. 

Together with the father and mother they 
came into the sick-room. 

He lifted the white sheet from the closed 
eyes and raven hair. He took the tiny, cold 
hand in his. 

'^Little lassie!" he called, ^^I am speaking 
to you. It is time to get up. ' ' 

And opening her eyes as if waking in the 



A SUMMER OF SUNSHINE 111 

morning, she smiled in the face of the teacher 
she loved and flew to her mother's arms. 

Jesus insisted that not a word of this should 
go farther, and then told the happy mother 
to be sure and give her a good supper. 

Finally, evening came. The people went 
up on their house roofs and rested in the cool- 
ness after the sultry day. It was pleasant to 
hear, borne by the breeze, the sound of the 
surf and the songs of the fishers as they sailed 
home from the deep. In the usually dark and 
silent streets there were flashings of lanterns, 
the soft patter of many sandals and the sound 
of many voices. 

For Jesus was sitting in his house door, and 
people came crowding to him from other 
places, lame and blind and epileptic. He told 
them also about the kingdom as he helped 
them all. In this work he was busy until late 
that night. 

This was the way he planned to spend his 
time in Galilee. 

To be to men a Friend, as God is our 
Friend, was his motto. 

If he could help by teaching, he would do 
that. If he could help by healing, then he 
would do that. For, indeed, his healing was 
only another way of teaching God's love. 

So every day he gave his very best. What- 
ever he determined to do, even if it seemed 
an impossible thing, he did it with all his 
might. 



112 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

And everywhere he was trying to find 
others who would love God enough and men 
enough to follow him and try to help do what 
he was doing. 

Soon he began to think of these friends, as 
they joined him one by one, as a sort of Fam- 
ily of Brothers. His own brothers, now 
young men, were jealous of him, and, forget- 
ting his patient care of them in their boyhood, 
with the rest of the Nazareth people, had 
turned against him. 

At times they pretended to think he was 
crazy, and talked of having him shut up. 
Again they slandered him because, they said, 
he was keeping bad company. 

One day they came with his mother, for we 
know not what mean purpose. 

Somebody in the crowd said, ^^Sir, your 
mother and your brothers are trying to get 
a chance to speak to you. ' ' 

What could he do ? Would he expose their 
meanness in public? No, he must be true to 
them, even if they were not true to him. Be^ 
sides, his mother was there, and tho she might 
be deceived, she meant him nothing but good. 

He laid his hand on the speaker 's shoulder 
and said to him fondly, as he swept the other 
hand over the whole circle: ^^Who is a 
mother to me and who are brothers of mine f 
Here are my mother and my brothers ! These 
that listen to God's word and do if 




From the painting by Albert Zimmermann 

CHRIST HEALING THE SICK 



XI 
A FAMILY OF BROTHERS 

Whom should he choose? 

There is a saddle-shaped mountain* about 
ten miles southwest of Capernaum, where 
Jesus was fond of going whenever he could 
get a chance to be alone. Here climbing up in 
the cool evening, he could gather apples on 
the slope, drink from the brooklet that dashed 
down the side, and watch the birds fly home 
to their nests. After the sun had gone down 
into the great sea, he sat wrapped in his cloak, 
in a shelter on the eastern summit, and looked 
down on the quiet lake, whose waters and vil- 
lages were his parish. 

Here he planned how he could help this one 
and that one, how he might most wisely an- 
swer the hostile questions that the doctors 
from Jerusalem were beginning to send com- 
mittees to ask him, how he could better build 
his kingdom. Then for a long time he would 
lift his heart into the atmosphere of heaven 
and, having received from God peace and wis- 
dom, would fall asleep. 

But this summer night he could not sleep. 

* See Note 20. 



114 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

All night long he was thinking over the names 
of the picked men of Galilee. He selected 
eleven. 

And who should there be from Judea and 
Jerusalem? Yon know how little came of 
those busy weeks in that part of the country 
when he was helping John. The Judeans also 
despised the men of Galilee. Yet there must 
be twelve and at least one from Judea or else 
the new brotherhood would not stand for the 
whole nation, the Twelve Tribes. 

A man had lately joined him who came to 
Capernaum clear from the southern border 
of the country. He was a business man, and 
he had said to Jesus earnestly: ^^Sir, I will 
follow you wherever you go." 

He was keen, ambitious, full of enthusiasm. 
Jesus put Judas down as the twelfth and last. 

And now as early morning began to redden 
in the east he washed his face in the cool 
brook and ate his frugal breakfast of bread 
and broiled fish. Even while he was eating he 
could see a long line of people filing toward 
him across the valley below from the shore, 
and before the sun was high their bright- 
colored garments dotted the hillside like blos- 
soms. 

When they had all come together and had 
sat down, Jesus called the young men whom 
he had chosen, and one by one they came and 
stood around him. 

'^ Simon, the Eock-Man." 



A FAMILY OF BROTHERS 115 

The proud face of the fisherman glowed to 
hear himself called first. 

^^Here, sir." 

^^ James and John, the Thnnderers. ' ' 

This was Jesus' nicknames for the two 
brothers, because they were so quick-tem- 
pered. 

^^ Andrew." 

This was Peter 's brother. 

They were all neighbors. Most of them 
were old-time friends. At least four of them 
were Jesus' own cousins. There were three 
pair of brothers. So they were twined and 
intertwined together by ties of blood and 
neighborhood and clan— all but Judas of 
Kerioth, the Judean. 

There was applause from the company, 
varying according to the popularity of each, 
as one followed another to the side of Jesus. 
They were proud to think that the captains 
of their deliverer's new army were all but one 
to be Galileans. 

Wlien they had all been called, Jesus laid 
his hands upon each one and kissed him on 
the cheek, while the multitude bowed in 
prayer. 

Then he sat down, his twelve friends close 
to him, and all the rest came near to hear 
what he would say. 

Do you remember how the great chieftain 
Moses once went up on a barren mountain 



V 

116 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

and amidst its wild tlmnder tempests heard 
the law of duty? 

The people must have thought of that day 
as they sat on this grassy hill together and 
heard the law of love. 

While they were settling down to listen, a 
wild figure crept np stealthily behind them 
and crouched as near as he dared, close to a 
rock. 

He was dressed in a long, tattered and 
dirty cloak, a soiled cloth was across his* 
mouth, and his hair was hanging over his 
face, which was blotched and swollen. He 
was a leper.* Once he had been as strong 
and happy as other men, but suddenly this 
terrible disease had appeared like a wound 
upon his arm and then had spread to his 
whole bodj^ He was driven forth from 
among men and he lived in empty tombs in 
the rocks. His wife left his food at the cave 
door every morning, but she could never come 
near him and he never drank from any well 
that touched the lips of man. His was a hope- 
less, living death. 

He leaned over eagerly and bent his ear to 
hear what Jesus would say. 

The subject of his talk was suggested by the 
joyous faces of the Twelve: '^Who the 
Happy Are. ' ' 

He said : ' ' Happy are the people who are 

* See Note 17. 



A FAMILY OF BROTHERS 117 

teachable. They shall have the kingdom of 
heaven. 

^^ Happy are the people who sorrow. They 
will have comforting. 

^^ Happy are the gentle.- They shall inherit 
the earth. ' ' 

And so he went on unto the close of those 
shining words which we call the Beatitudes, or 
^Hhe Blessings/' closing by saying, especially 
to the Twelve, 

^^Yes, you are happy ones, whenever peo- 
ple abuse you and persecute you and say 
everything bad to you— untruly, and on my 
account. Be happy ! Be glad ! Because your 
repayment above will be exceeding great. ' ' 

One by one Jesus taught these sentences 
to his listeners, who thought them very 
strange. His way to happiness seemed a hard 
one. 

But over behind the rock the poor leper was 
shedding tears of gladness. It was such as 
he who could realize what Jesus meant. 

When the lesson was over, all the people 
began to stir about. The Twelve, who were 
hereafter known by him as ^'Disciples," or 
Learners, and ^^ Apostles," or Messengers, 
led the way down the steep path. 

As they turned a corner they saw a figure 
crouching by the way. 

A horrible, broken voice moaned, ^^ Un- 
clean ! Unclean ! ' ' 

It was the leper. 



118 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

He was obliged by law to warn people of 
his presence. The Twelve stepped nimbly 
over on the grass to go around him. But 
Jesns saw that his being in the pathway meant 
that he was waiting for him. 

Jesns went clear np to him. 

^^My son/' he said kindly, ^Vhat would 
you like of me ? ' ' 

' ' Sir, ' ' answered the leper in a whisper, ' ' if 
you are willing, you are able to heal me. ' ' 

Jesus was touched with pity at the wretch- 
edness of the sufferer. The Twelve were hor- 
rified to see Jesus put his hands on the leper 's 
shoulders and cry out, '^I will! Be thou 
clean. ' ' 

Such acts as these perplexed everyone. 
After touching such men Jesus was always 
obliged to remain in quarantine for several 
days. Nobody could understand why he did 
not cure the wretches from a distance. But 
to him it seemed that such people, who were 
entirely forsaken and abhorred by all men, 
could not feel that God had come near them 
in any other way quite so well as to have the 
touch of the hand of a friend. 

After this hilltop talk the Twelve lived with 
Jesus. James and John had little opportun- 
ity to fish any more, and they gave their fish- 
ing boats over to their father, Simon and 
Andrew used theirs as a sort of ferry for 
Jesus in his tours about the lake, Matthew and 
Judas had left their account books to their 



A FAMILY OF BROTHERS 119 

successors and, instead, Jndas was made 
treasurer of the small savings of the Twelve. 

Fancy one of the Twelve describing those 
days later : 

'^Sometimes we all went together, Jesus 
walking ahead with Simon Peter or John or 
James, and the rest of us following along the 
footpath behind. In such a case we shared 
together the pot-luck of the day, sometime's 
buying food, sometimes catching it with hook 
or net, oftener being the guests of various 
people, who were glad to have such a noted 
rabbi as their guest. Jesus had one singular 
rule: He never refused an invitation. It 
might be a nobleman, a doctor of laws, or a 
man or woman who was very poor— never 
mind; if that person wanted Jesus, Jesus 
wanted him. He was even at times the guest 
of thieves and villains. 

^^He was not always teaching the people. 
Sometimes he would rest for several days in 
some quiet nook beside the lake and engage 
in friendly talk with us, or help us discuss the 
next week's work. Often he would change 
his plans entirely when some needy person 
called on him for help, or, again, he would 
lead us suddenly, without any apparent cause, 
to some far-off, lonely village, like Nain,^ or 
Cana, where it would always strangely turn 
out that somebody was in sore trouble. 

^^ There was also a company of good women 

* See Note 21. 



120 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

down by the lake, including the wife of the 
king's butler, the mother of the little girl 
whom he had healed and one Mary of Mag- 
dala, a noblewoman whom he had cured of 
insanity, who supplied our company with food 
and mended our clothes. When the weather 
was pleasant and the distances were not too 
great, some of our kinswomen, such as Simon 
Peter 's wife, and Salome, the mother of John 
and James, and Mary, the mother of Jude 
and the other James, would walk with us, and 
at times young people would follow along. 
For they liked to hear his stories, and he was 
ready, as the teachers of the law had been 
when he was a boy, to answer their questions. 

^^We began now also to go out in pairs. 
This matter Jesus managed with much skill. 
He sent us two by two, so that we might cheer 
each other up and so that one might succeed 
if the other failed. The three pairs of broth- 
ers he sent together. To doubtful Thomas he 
gave as a helper reliable Matthew, and he 
gave to Judas of Kerioth, or Iscariot, to 
strengthen his loyalty, Simon the Zealot, a 
member of a hot-headed party that was work- 
ing for a bloody revolution. 

^' 'Don't you go to foreigners. Don't go 
into Samaria. Just go to the lost sheep of 
Israel's fold,' he said to us. 

/' 'Eemember, I am sending you out like 
sheep amongst wolves. They may bring you 
into court an^ flog you. Every man may hate 



A FAMILY OF BROTHERS 121 

you. But those who persevere to the end will 
succeed. And before you have gone through 
the towns of Israel I shall come to meet you. ' 

^^So we started. We went in light march- 
ing order. No extra shoes or overcoats, not 
even a walking-stick. When we came to a 
town we inquired for a God-fearing man, en- 
gaged hospitality with him and lodged at his 
house until we left town. If a man would not 
take us in or the people of a village would 
not listen to us, we quietly went to the next. 
We said to everybody, ' The Kingdom is draw- 
ing near!' We told people everywhere the 
stories we had heard Jesus tell, we taught the 
Blessings to those who would listen, and we 
anointed sick folk with oil and prayed beside 
them, as Jesus had showed us how to do. 

^^It was quite different to try to interest or 
attract strangers when Jesus was not present. 
It was winter when we started. We waded 
through the snows and faced the fierce winds 
of the highlands. We plodded through the 
thick mud of Esdraelon. We were often hun- 
gry, shelterless, abused. But we kept on, tell- 
ing the Good News and comforting those who 
were in trouble, because the Master had told 
us to do so and because we hoped that in some 
way, we did not know how, all this was going 
to help bring in the Kingdom. 

^^ And it all came out just as Jesus had said. 
As a matter of fact, we were not arrested on 
this journey. Whenever one of us was in 



122 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

perplexity, Jesus would manage to be near. 
Often we all came back to him to tell our ad- 
ventures. And when it was all over we saw 
that it had been the happiest springtime of 
our lives, for we had been helping our people 
to love our Hero and our Friend. ' ' 



XII 
THE MARTYRED HERO 

While these sunny days are passing, we 
must not forget John the prophet. 

In the Roman king's stone prison on those 
far-off crags east of the Dead Sea his heart 
was breaking. 

The way of his imprisonment was this : 

The whole family of these kings, the He- 
rods, was a bad lot. This especial one, Herod 
Antipas, was both weak and wicked. He had 
deserted his wife and stolen off with He- 
rodias, the wife of his brother, who was also 
his niece. 

John never minced matters. When people 
asked him what he thought of this adulterous 
act, he said, ^ ^It is a sin for him to have her ! ' ' 
Herodias heard of what he had been saying, 
and she persuaded her husband that John was 
getting ready to start revolt and that he would 
be safer in jail. 

The king was very anxious to meet his fa- 
mous prisoner, and when he saw the gigantic 
hermit he was much taken with him. 

Night after night, when the noisy revelries 
of the palace were still, he called him into his 



124 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

council room and had long talks with him, and 
it became a sort of dreary comfort to John to 
find that the king often accepted his advice. 

But the news that came to John of the do- 
ings of Jesus perplexed and discouraged him, 
and the thought of his own helplessness made 
him pace his cell as a lion does his cage. 

''Whj doesn't Jesus announce the king- 
dom? Why doesn't he gather an army to my 
rescue? Why does he forsake Judea and 
spend his time at ease among those worthless 
Galileans? Is he really the Christ, anyway?" 

John was allowed to have a few visitors, 
and one day when two of his old followers 
were with him, he ordered them to go to Jesus 
and ask him what he was about. 

When they found Jesus, the contrast be- 
tween John's prison cell and the freedom and 
joy that accompanied Jesus was surely start- 
ling. They determined to stay with him for 
a few days, so as to report all he did. 

One occurrence especially impressed them* 

Jesus and his friends were invited to a 
dinner at the house of a man named Simon, 
who was a member of a sect of stern Puritans, 
who called themselves Separatists or Phari- 
sees. These men, like the law teachers, were 
getting more and more suspicious of Jesus. 

The dinner was an elaborate one, but Jesus 
had been invited as an exhibit for Simon's 
guests, and Simon offered him none of the 



THE MARTYRED HERO 125 

customary courtesies. More than that, he 
tried to discredit him. 

It was a Roman custom to send female 
slaves around the room to anoint the hair and 
feet of the guests as they reclined on the long 
couches. 

These slaves were living lives of shame. 
^^If Jesus is a real prophet," thought Simon 
to himself, ^4ie will know what kind of a per- 
son she is, and he will not allow her to touch 
him. If he does allow her, we shall be able 
to declare that he is no prophet. ' ' 

The woman went quietly about her task as 
the meal went on. When she came to Jesus 
and knelt down by his feet, it came over her 
that she was touching the body of one who 
had never known a stain of sin. Her heart 
was broken with grief. She kept on at the 
task, but Jesus could feel her tears falling 
silently upon his feet. 

The Pharisee meantime was chuckling and 
nudging those about him in triumph. 

^^ Simon," said Jesus at length from the 
foot of the table, ^^I would like to speak to 
you. ' ' 

^^Pray do, Eabbi," said Simon condescend- 
ingly. 

^^Once there were two people who were in 
debt to a money-lender.- One owed twelve 
million dollars, the other seventeen. As they 
could neither of them pay him, he forgave 
them both their debts. Which of them, do 



136 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

you suppose, will feel the greater love for 
himr' 

^^Why," said Simon, puzzled, ^^I would 
think the one to whom he forgave the greater 
debt.'' 

^ ^ Precisely, " answered Jesus. 

Then turning gently toward the woman he 
continued : 

^^You see this woman here. I came into 
your house. You did not give me any water 
for my feet, but she has wet them with her 
tears and dried them with her hair. No kiss 
of greeting did you give me, but she, since I 
sat here, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You 
did not sprinkle even my head with oil, but 
she with perfume has covered my feet. ' ' 

^^And," he said', smiling upon her, ^^you 
may be sure she is greatly forgiven, because 
she has loved greatly." And as she went 
away, he added, ' ' My blessing go with you. ' ' 

^^But, Simon," he added sternly, ^^ those 
have been forgiven little who love but little. ' ' 

And rising up, he left Simon and his com- 
panions, saying in frightened wonder, 

'^Who is He— this One who is even forgiv- 
ing sins?" 

Then the stern friends of John, who had 
been waiting for him and who were naturally 
rather angry that he should seem to be loung- 
ing at a feast while their leader was in jail, 
stopped him. 

^^ John the Baptizer has sent us to you, sir. 



THE MARTYRED HERO 127 

to ask: ^Are you the Coming One after all, 
or are we to look for someone else?' " 

Jesus made no reply at once. The people 
who were in trouble were already crowding 
the strangers away. After an hour, when he 
had helped them all, he came over to where 
John's bewildered friends were standing. 

^^Go back to John and report to him what 
you have just noticed and heard— the blind 
are regaining their sight, the lame are walk- 
ing, the lepers are being healed, and the poor 
have the Glad Message told to them. And 
tell John : Happy is the man who will keep 
faith with me." 

^^What do you think of John?" asked one 
of the fishermen of Jesus when these dele- 
gates had gone. 

^^What did you go into the desert to see? 

'^ ^A reed waving in the wind?' 

^'If not, what did you go out to see? 

^^A man clad in rich clothing? Ah, but 
those live in kings' palaces. (Not in kings' 
dungeons.) 

''What then did you go to see? 

'' 'A prophet!' you say. 

''Yes, indeed! more than a prophet. There 
is no one born of woman greater than John ! 

"And yet," he added to those who heard 
this enthusiastic eulogy. "When I think of 
what you are hearing and seeing, a little boy 
in heaven's kingdom seems to me greater than 



128 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

We do not know what John said when he 
received Jesns' message. It was plain what 
Jesus' words meant. ^^If I am doing God's 
work, am I not doing his will? What matter 
the results ? ' ' His own noble heart answered 
to that appeal, for had he not done the right, 
careless of the result ! And when he listened 
to that final challenge, ^^ Happy is he who will 
keep faith with me," his figure straightened 
and his eyes glowed with resolve. 

He might not fully understand Jesus, but 
he could be true to him. 

You will read far in your histories before 
you will find a more heroic figure than his. 
Day by day his mighty brain was gaining 
dominion over the weak mind of the besotted 
king. If he would consent to ignore the sin 
with Herodias, power, freedom, glory were 
his. Perhaps he would become prime minis- 
ter, even king. He did not need even to alter 
his own opinion. All he had to do was to 
keep silent on the subject. 

But he would not do it. He would not 
honor the woman with a look when she swept 
through the palace corridors, and if the king 
ever mentioned her name he would roar out 
at once, ^' It is a sin for you to have her!" 

This— for he knew her cruel fury— meant 
death. 

She watched like a tigress for the hour 
when she could crush him. 

Never were the gayeties at that old stone 



THE MARTYRED HERO 129 

palace so constant as now. Each day had a 
new form of pleasure, which lasted late into 
the night. The king, sated or tired, almost 
forgot his captive. 

A holiday had closed with an all-night ban- 
quet. The king and his guests were heavy 
with wine. The entertainment had already 
been varied and entrancing. The hour was 
late. 

Suddenly the curtains parted at the end of 
the room, opposite the throne. The music 
crashed and then was still. 

A little girl was standing alone in the open 
space, graceful, slender, shy. It was the 
queen's only child. 

The guests, among whom were some Jewish 
chieftains from Galilee, were flattered by this 
unusual honor done them, and hailed her with 
a cheer. 

The torches were brought into a half -circle 
about her, and she began to dance. 

She was full of health and life and as grace- 
ful as a fawn. Her Roman teacher would 
have been proud of her. They had seen hired 
women dancers already that night, but to 
watch this little innocent was like coming sud- 
denly upon some wild creature in the woods at 
play. 

As he saw how she was pleasing his guests, 
the king looked at her with proud love. When 
she finished amid a storm of applause, he 
called her, and she ran to his arms. 



130 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

' ' What present must I give you, little one ? ' ' 
lie said fondly. ' ' Name it now and you shall 
have it, if it be even a share of the kingdom. ' ' 

' ' Let me ask mother, ' ' she answered joyous- 
ly, and she ran out. 

Her mother had been all the time just be- 
hind the curtains. 

There was a moment's waiting. Then the 
mother came in leading her daughter. Evi- 
dently the little girl did not want that for 
which her mother had ordered her to ask. 

But the mother insisted. 

' ' Give me, ' ' at last she said almost sobbing, 
^^the head— of— John— here— at once, on a 
silver tray." 

Hideous boon! 

The great room grew still. 

The king was sobered. The horrible woman 
had tricked him. 

Should he rise and disown the thoughtless, 
fatal promise ? 

But she held him with her pitiless ej^es. 
The company was watching. 

She was the stronger. 

He shook himself, gave a hoarse laugh of 
shame, and made a sign to his executioner. 

In a trice the ghastly head, its long hair 
dripping with blood, glowered on the silver 
tray, and was placed by a kneeling slave be- 
fore the shrinking, frightened child. 

Herod was never again the same man. 

The gray stone palace seemed ever haunted 



THE MARTYRED HERO 131 

by the ghost of John and it was soon deserted. 
When he heard of Jesus in the far north mov- 
ing here and there with what seemed super- 
natural power and influence he shrieked out, 
^^Who is this that I hear such things of? It 
is John, whom I murdered! He has risen 
from his grave ! " 

And Revenge, as well as Remorse, did not 
forget him. 

The father of his lawful wife overcame him 
in battle. When the woman who had. been 
his ruin influenced him to go to Rome to ask 
Caesar for a royal crown, Caesar discovered 
his shameful record, deprived him of his 
throne, and drove him into lonely exile. 

John's friends took up his broken body and 
gave it burial. Then, homeless, friendless, 
they came and followed Jesus. 



XIII 
REJECTED 

Before they arrived the news reached 
Jesus and the Twelve. 

The Twelve were dnmbf onnded. 

It was as when a man wakes from sweet 
sleep and dreams, to find a brigand at his 
throat. 

Their summer's dream was over. 

They had been sure of John's release, be- 
cause they felt that Herod did not dare to 
brave the anger of his people by killing their 
hero. And now his corpse was stretched, as 
it were, across the very doorway of the new 
kingdom. 

And if John, why not Jesus ? 

If Jesus, which of themselves next! 

Jesus was not taken by surprise. He had 
known since his days in the desert that it 
could not often be summer sunshine in his life. 
He was ready. 

Still his great heart was torn with grief. 
The strong giant, his boyhood's hero, was 
fallen. That fearless face was still, that voice 
of duty was hushed forever. The man who 



REJECTED 133 

had unselfishly helped him when he began his 
work could never help him again. 

Late that evening, John's shattered fol- 
lowers arrived. 

Before sunrise Jesus called at each home 
and awakened his friends from their troubled 
sleep. 

^^Come/' he cried, ^4et us get away, before 
people are up, to some lonely spot by our- 
selves, and rest awhile. ' ' 

It was a welcome word. Simon and John 
and the other fishermen cleaned out the sail- 
boat, the others got breakfast, and soon they 
were off.^ 

There were perhaps about sixteen aboard 
as they stole quietly from the Capernaum 
shore, Jesus and the Twelve, the two friends 
of John, and a boy, Simon Peter's son, per- 
haps, who had slipped on under the shelter of 
Jesus and who sat with him at the tiller. 
Jesus was fond of boys, and one or more of 
them was very likely to be found wherever 
he was. 

They had been together in Galilee nearly 
a year now, and the springtime had come 
again. They made an easterly course with a 
fair wind, and as they drew near the solitary 
beach, f the green hill-slopes, dotted with wild 
flowers, and the thick shade of the trees by the 
water looked very pleasant. They had eaten 
their lunch on the water, because they ha'd 

-* See Note 22. t See Note 23. 



134 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

planned a walk up into the country and 
wished to carry nothing with them. About 
sunset they expected to return, and by dark 
they would be home to supper. 

But, as usual, they were interrupted. 

The boat was hardly drawn up safely on 
the sand before they heard voices along the 
shore and saw white garments moving among 
the trees. 

Within an hour one of the largest com^ 
panics which Jesus ever met had surrounded 
him. They had seen his boat on the lake, and 
they had hurried around the shore to over- 
take him. There was always a crowd now in 
Galilee wherever Jesus was known to be, but 
the presence in the town of a great many pil- 
grims on their way to the Passover from for- 
eign lands would account for this unusual and 
restless concourse. And, as in most congre- 
gations that gathered around Jesus, the pro- 
portion of men was unusually great. 

Jesus pressed back his private grief and his 
disappointment, and even walked up to meet 
and welcome them as if they had been invited 
guests. He could see at a glance that most 
of them were entire strangers to him. It was 
not a congregation of believers. It was a 
rabble. 

The busy, wearying day dragged on. From 
one noisy group to another he went, telling 
the Good News of his kingdom and healing 
the sick. As fast as one company departed, 



REJECTED 135 

another came in. There was not a moment to 
stop, even to eat. 

The crowd was restless. It appeared that 
they were in the mood of demanding some- 
thing. The death of John had changed them 
entirely. The feeling of loving reverence 
which he had always met in Galilee was all 
gone. These men seemed to think now that 
Jesus was about to escape or deceive them, 
and that they must force him to declare the 
date when he would seize his kingdom. His 
teachings during the day left them dissatis- 
fied and uneasy. 

^^Oh, we have heard all this before/' one 
was heard to murmur. ^^It is nothing but 
love and peace and goodness. What has all 
this to do with our kingdom? And now John 
is dead and Herod has gotten his courage 
again, and, unless a leader arises, we shall all 
feel the tyrant's power more than ever." 

Jesus knew all they were thinking. 

As the heat of the day grew intense, and 
the people got weary, they became even more 
restless. They were hungry as well as tired. 

^^Send them off," the Twelve kept urging 
Jesus. ^^It is getting dark. There is no food 
here. Let* them separate to the villages and 
farmhouses about here and get lodging and 
victuals." 

^^We don't need to send them away. You 
feed them," said Jesus. 

< ^ We ? ' ' answered Philip. 



136 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^Yes/^ said Jesus^ '^ where can yon bny 
bread, so that they may all eatT' 

^^Bny?" said Philip. A place to bny was 
ont of the qnestion, bnt the cost was even 
more impossible. *^It will take at least thirty- 
five dollars ' worth of bread, and then no one 
will have more than a morsel. ' ' 

^^Nevertheless, it is for yon to feed them," 
insisted Jesns. ^^How many loaves have 
yonr' 

Now that boy had stayed close to Jesns all 
day, helping sick people to secnre his atten- 
tion, and repeating over again Jesus' sayings 
to those that were deaf or did not hear. Some- 
time he intended to be a disciple himself. The 
story is, that he became one later and grew to 
be a bishop, and that his name was Theo- 
phorns, ' ' one who carries God in his heart. ' ' 
When he heard Jesns ask this question he 
was off like a flash and rummaging under the 
boat seats. 

When he came back with the little bundle 
of lunch that had been left over, his uncle, 
Andrew, stopped him and asked him what he 
was doing. Then he turned to Jesus in apol- 
ogy: 

' ' The boy here, sir, says he has five barley 
loaves and two herrings. But what are these 
among so many people!" 

^ ' Order the men to sit down in companies, ' ' 
said Jesus. 

The Twelve arranged the entire crowd in 



REJECTED 137 

groups, like inilitary companies, and I dare 
say many of the men regarded this as the be- 
ginning of the organized military movement 
of the new revolution. 

But when they were all quiet he asked the 
blessing and the meal began. How he did it 
nobody knows, but he gave bread and fish to 
the disciples and they carried food to the 
crowd. 

It was Passover time, the nation's birthday. 
He was going away from them, it is true, but 
not to escape or forsake them. He knew they 
would not let him stay. But before he went, 
he wanted them all to sit down as his guests 
at a feast which should mark the birth of the 
new nation, the Kingdom *of Human Brother- 
hood. Ancient Israel had been fed thus by 
God. So should the new Kingdom have its 
beginning, an out-of-doors festival for all the 
people. 

Can you not seem to see that great multi- 
tude on the hillslope? They looked— so Peter 
many years later told his friend John Mark, 
who wrote one of the accounts of this day— 
in their garments of scarlet and yellow and 
blue, against the background of the grass, 
like great flower-beds. Can you see Jesus 
standing in their midst, with his arm on his 
boy-friend's shoulder, like the father of his 
people? 

They sat facing the sunset, and even as they 
were eating they saw the sun drop down be- 



138 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST "^ 

hind the mountain beyond the lake, whereon 
he had taught them the Blessings. In the 
clear evening light they could discern, clear 
across those waters, which the wind was now 
tossing into surge, the white villages, where 
were their homes, and where Jesus had so 
often visited them. And they did not know 
that this mountain and those villages would 
not see him any more before his death. 

The generous feast stirred their excitement 
beyond control. Like us they did not know 
whence he had furnished this bounty. The 
fragments Jesus was already dividing among 
the poorest for to-morrow. How fine to have 
a Bread-king, who would thus feed them 
every day ! No more work, no more poverty, 
no more taxes! And they crowded around 
him shouting wildly, ' ' Our king ! Hail to the 
king ! ' ' 

Jesus smiled sadly, but shook his head. 

The disciples were as excited as the others. 
Judas Iscariot said to him passionately, ' ' Sir, 
you will throw away a great opportunity un- 
less you act at once. ' ' Simon Peter was hard- 
ly less urgent, tho more self-controlled. Jesus 
quietly forced the Twelve into their boat 
first, because he saw that he could never mas- 
ter the mob until they were away. 

Then he turned back to the crowd. Those 
who came by boat he reminded that a storm 
was coming and that they could not make too 
much haste home. To those who had wives 



REJECTED 139 

and children with them he suggested the perils 
of the darkness, and got them started reluc- 
tantly upon the pathway back. Thinking 
they could persuade him in the morning, even 
the leaders, recognizing the dangers he point- 
ed out, consented to leave him for the night. 

And when the darkness had shut down and 
the winds were abroad, and the stars were 
clear and sharp in the cloudless sky, Jesus 
was left on the hillside alone. 



XIV 
THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 

The temptations of the desert had come 
back again: ^'Use the loaves to help your 
own success," and ^^The kingdoms of this 
world are yours, if you will only fall down 
and worship Satan. ' ' 

This time the world itself was urging him 
to yield. ^^Be our king!" it cried. ^^We 
need you ! " 

But the inner Voice said, No. 

The next day was the Sabbath, and he 
walked into the little stone meeting-house in 
Capernaum, which a pious Eoman captain 
had built, and gave them his decision. The 
place was crowded, for they were all looking 
for him. Jesus was as calm as if nothing had 
happened. He was even smiling. He came 
as their neighbor, not as their king. 

^^You want me," he said, ^'not because I 
showed you a token of God's love, but because 
you ate my loaves and were no longer hun- 
gry.'' 

' ' But, ' ' they cried, ' ' our fathers had manna 
to eat in the desert. ' ' They remembered this, 
as Americans remember Bunker Hill. Over 



THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 141 

the front door of this very meeting-house was 
carved a pot of manna. 

^^Yes," he said gently, ^^bnt- it was not 
Moses that gave yon heavenly bread. Onr 
heavenly Father it is that gives yon the real 
Bread from Heaven. ' ' 

^^Then, Master," they all said hungrily, 
^^give us real bread always." 

Just so, you remember the lazy Samaria 
woman had said, ' ' Give me that living water, 
so I shall not have to come to draw. ^ ' 

^^That Bread of Life am I," said Jesus. 
' ' Those who come to me will never be hungry, 
those who believe in me will never be thirsty 
forever more. ' ' 

'•You!" they cried incredulously. ''Isn't 
this Jesus, Joseph's son?" they said to each 
other. "How is it that he says he came down 
from heaven ? ' ' 

As long as Jesus offered his gifts they were 
glad, but when he offered himself they re- 
fused the best of all gifts. 

And from this time most of the people of 
Capernaum, his home, and gradually of all 
Galilee, turned against him. Great numbers 
that had followed him here and there were 
no longer seen in his company. 

Jesus knew it would be so. But he loved the 
Galileans and it grieved him. 

"Do you, too, want to leave me!" he said 
to his Twelve one day. 

"Whom should we go to?" asked Peter. 



142 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^But don't you want to go!" 

' ' No, Master, ' ' answered Peter stoutly, dis- 
appointed tho he was at Jesus' action across 
the lake, ^4t is you who have the words that 
give us life. ' ' 

^^But," said Jesus sadly, thinking of what 
Judas had said the night before, ^^altho I 
chose the twelve of you, yet even of you one 
is an enemy. ' ' 

Then he told his friends to load their haver- 
sacks full, for they were to start on a long 
journey. 

Again he said good-by to his mother, for 
this was to be a half-year's absence. He 
spoke a kindly farewell to his brothers, who 
were now living in their own homes. But I 
am afraid they did not answer him cordially. 

They regarded themselves as the religious 
ones of the family. They were going to Jeru- 
salem to the Passover feast and they probably 
thought it very sinful that he should be tramp- 
ing off in just the opposite direction. 

Northwestward he led the Twelve into the 
mountains of upper Galilee. They wondered 
at him, as day by day they went farther from 
home, and finally passed the boundary line of 
their country and were over in Phenicia. 

It was getting into the summer, but the 
walking was pleasant on the wind-swept table- 
lands and in the shadowed ravines. 

They covered two hundred miles that sum- 
mer. 



THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 143 

They visited Tyre and Sidon, those mag- 
nificent old capitals of that heroic race, which, 
like sea gulls, had swept every sea and touched 
the shore only to find nests for their young. 

They looked with amazement at the crowd- 
ed masts in the harbor of Tyre^ and the heaps 
of varied merchandise along the wharves 
from every country under heaven. They 
stood face to face with black Moors, tawny 
Egyptians, dark-eyed Spaniards, and a race 
they had never seen before— the flaxen-haired 
Saxons. They walked upon the cliffs of Sidon 
and looked beyond its temples and royal 
tombs, its groves and gardens and its fisheries 
of the purple limpet, far over the blue sea, 
whose waters, they knew, swept Greece and 
Rome and Africa and the Pillars of Hercules, 
and met the great ocean beyond the setting 
sun, where lay the fabled islands of the Hes- 
perides and the lost continent of Atlantis. 

The Jews are not good sailors, but these 
fishermen found fine company in those old 
salts who lounged on the quays and who told 
such fascinating tales of the sights in far-off 
lands. In the excitement of these novel ex- 
periences, I presume that, like boys who first 
see the ocean, they longed to take one long 
voyage to make such discoveries for them- 
selves. 

This was just what Jesus wanted when he 
brought them to these foreign shores. Not 

* See Note 24. 



V 

144 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

only wonld he have them forget the disap- 
pointments of Galilee, but he wanted them to 
begin to listen with sympathy, even with ad- 
miration, to the thoughts of other races, so 
that when they themselves became his mes- 
sengers to other lands they would be able to 
deal with their peoples with wisdom and un- 
derstanding. 

Already, while his influence among his own 
people was growing less, the dauntless Com- 
mander was planning his world-wide cam- 
paign. 

But it was not easy to accomplish this. The 
fishermen were very willing to admire the 
courage of these deep-sea sailors, but when it 
came to religion, they regarded them as only 
' ' dogs. ' ' That was the word they used for all 
foreigners. It had always been a matter of 
special displeasure to them that when some of 
these Tyrians had come to Jesus in Caper- 
naum he had received them so kindly and 
taught them patiently. 

One story only is told us to prove how in- 
genious Jesus was in showing the Twelve 
their own narrow-mindedness, by letting them 
see the nobility and sweetness of nature of the 
very people whom they despised. 

One day he was resting in a Tyrian lodging 
house. His wonderful teachings had already 
made him so well known that he could not be 
hid. It was a woman who found him out, the 
first who had needed bodily help. She was 



THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 145 

not of the noble Phenicians, she was of the old 
aboriginal Canaanite race, that had settled the 
land before the Jews did, just as the Indians 
did our own country. But she was an intel- 
ligent woman, even able to use the Greek lan- 
guage. 

She had come in behalf of her little daugh- 
ter, who was insane. Jesus determined to let 
this be a test of the human sympathy of his 
friends. 

' ' Have pity, my lord ! ' ' she cried. 

But he deliberately turned away from her 
and left the house. 

The poor woman followed him, begging 
earnestly for his help. Surely the disciples 
would entreat him, out of mere human kind- 
ness, to comfort her. 

But no. They were pleased that he ignored 
this ^^ heathen," and they even urged him to 
send her away. 

^^Lord, help me !" she shrieked in despair. 

Jesus had overheard some of the conversa- 
tion that his friends had been having with the 
Tyrian sailors, in the course of which Peter 
in his blunt fisherlike way had told the Tyri- 
ans that they were only the street dogs that 
roamed outside the households where the true 
children of God had their home. 

So he quoted Peter to the woman. 

^^I have been sent," he said, as he turned 
back to her, ' ' only to the wandering sheep of 
Israel's fold. Let the children have enough 



146 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

first, for it is not fair to take the children's 
1 oaf and throw it to the household puppies. ' ' 

Was there a twinkle in his eye as he spoke, 
or did she notice that he did not speak of her 
race coarsely as homeless street dogs, but as 
the pets which the Tyrians kept in their 
houses ? 

With keen mother wit she answered, ' ' Yes, 
Lord, but the puppies often feed on the scraps 
that fall from their Owner 's table ! ' ' 

Ah, that was a keen answer ! ^'Dogs" they 
might be, but God was the Owner and Maker 
of them all. 

^ ' Well said ! ' ' cried Jesus with hearty pleas- 
ure. ' ' What splendid faith ! Let it be as you 
will. Go home. Your daughter is well. ' ' 

Splendid faith indeed! 

The only other time he had ever been able 
to use such warm terms of praise had been 
a few days before in Capernaum. And then 
it was to another foreigner. 

The captain of the Eoman city guard, the 
man who had built the Jews their meeting- 
house, had a favorite slave, a boy, who was 
sick. 

He sent by the officers of the Jewish church 
to Jesus this message : 

^^Sir, my man-servant is lying ill at my 
house with a stroke of paralysis, and is suf- 
fering terribly. ' ' 

Even the Jews in this instance urged him 
to come, for they said, ^^The man really de- 



THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 147 

serves your favors, for he is devoted to our 
nation and he built us our meeting-house. ' ' 

Jesus started at once to his home. But 
when he was close by, the captain sent out 
one of his own friends with another message : 

^^Sir," he said, ^^I am not of importance 
enough for you to come under my roof. That, 
indeed, is the reason why I did not think my- 
self fit to come to you. Just say the word and 
the boy will get well. For I know how it is : 
I myself, a man under the orders of others, 
have soldiers under mine, and if I say to one, 
^Go!' he goes, and to another, ^Do this!' he 
does it." 

It was then that Jesus had exclaimed again : 
' ' Splendid faith ! Never in any Israelite have 
I met with faith like that. ' ' 

Jesus insisted on meeting this gallant sol- 
dier, and after praising him warmly he said, 
as he did to this Tyrian woman, ' ' Gro home, 
sir. It shall be according to your faith." 

I can seem to see Jesus standing on the 
cliffs of Tyre that summer evening looking 
across the great sea and murmuring to him- 
self what he had said in Capernaum regard- 
ing that Eoman captain : 

^^Many will come some day from the West 
as well as from the East and take their places 
at table beside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in 
the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the 
kingdom will be banished into the darkness 
outside. ' ' 



148 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

Such were the men he might have had, and 
as he gazed toward Greece and Eome and the 
nations beyond, did not the temptation come 
to leave his own bigoted countrymen and 
carry his Gospel himself to the outer world 
that needed him and seemed so ready to wel- 
come him? Did he foresee clearly then that 
the march of his kingdom was to be ever west- 
ward, and that the language of Greece, the 
throne of Eome, the heart of the Saxon, yea, 
of their children, the Saxons of the undis- 
covered America beyond the seas, would be 
subdued beneath the sway of his Gospel? 

You will hear it said that Jesus was no 
patriot. 

The best answer to that is his next action. 
Deliberately he turned his back on these op- 
portunities in other countries which were so 
attractive and hopeful. Back again he went 
to try to help his own people, who he knew 
had rejected him, and were beginning to hate 
him. 

First he led his friends eastward through 
the deep gorge of the rushing Leontes Eiver, 
up over the Alpine range of the Lebanon, to 
where on some clear September day they 
looked down the long eastern slopes to Damas- 
cus, the Treasure City of the East, the Queen 
of the Desert. 

Mohammed, you remember, likewise once 
looked down on this same city, and sighing, 
^^Man can have but one Paradise— mine is 



THE MEN HE MIGHT HAVE HAD 149 

not here," turned away. So Jesus turned 
from this earthly Paradise toward his own 
people. 

Still he lingered, as long as the impatience 
of his followers would let him, among foreign 
places. 

He had, as the map shows, been bounding 
a great circle in this journey. He completed 
its circumference by passing southward along 
the curve of it that lies east of the Jordan. 

Beginning at the north with Damascus and 
reaching southward east of the Jordan, there 
was a group of important cities which had 
formed a federation for defence against in- 
vaders. They were called The League of the 
Ten Cities, or The Decapolis. 

They were mostly Greek towns. The beau- 
tiful ruins of their pillared temples and fo- 
rums are still seen to-day. 

Jesus had the rare accomplishment of 
knowing the Greek tongue, having picked it 
up with much pains when a youth at Nazareth. 

Do you remember the giant whom Jesus de- 
livered and sent as a missionary through their 
region, his native land? Bravely and well 
had he done his work, and so when Jesus him- 
self came among these people he received a 
cordial welcome. 

But the Twelve were not interested in these 
foreign folk, and at length, in the early fall, 
he brought them home to their friends in 
Capernaum. 



XV 
THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 

All this time the foes of Jesus had been 
gathering. 

Who were they? 

Not the Galileans. They had refused his 
teachings because he would not lead them in 
revolution. But they wished him no harm. 

Not the Samaritans, for he was the only 
Jew who had ever dared to be their friend. 

Not the Judeans, for they had met him only 
during the few weeks while he was helping 
John. 

His foes were at the capital. 

Those law-teachers and priests hated him 
because he had attacked their unlawful and 
tyrannous traffic in the temple courts. They 
were afraid he would rob them of all their 
ill-gotten gains. 

The Pharisees, Jewish Puritans, hated him 
because he would not obey all the petty and 
foolish ceremonies with which they had over- 
loaded the Old Testament law. Why, they 
even objected because Jesus rubbed the heads 
of wheat off the stalk with his fingers when 
he was walking through the fields on Sabbath 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 151 

afternoons, because they said it was work. 
Grinding grain, they called it! And when 
people in suffering were brought to him on 
Sunday they were horrified because he re- 
lieved their pain at once. 

Jesus once drew from his experience as a 
carpenter a humorous illustration to show 
these men how ridiculous it appeared for 
them to make so much of little things, when 
they had entirely forgotten about the great 
things. 

^^Why," said he, ^^do you scrutinize so par- 
ticularly the splinter in your brother's eye, 
and pay no attention at all to the timber that 
is in your own eye ? How can you say to your 
brother, ' Brother, let me assist you to get rid 
of that splinter in your eye,' while you your- 
self do not even see the timber in yours ? Out 
with that timber from your own eye first! 
Then you can see clearly enough to take the 
splinter from your brother's eye." 

The Sadducees, aristocratic free-thinkers, 
many of them priests, who had always been 
opposed to the Pharisees, agreed with them 
for once in hating Jesus, because he stood up 
for the poor and because his teachings threat- 
ened their positions of privilege. 

Now the power of Israel was in its capital, 
Jerusalem. So here the wealth and strength 
and leadership of the nation were at this time 
gradually uniting to crush this one innocent 
man. 



152 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

We read to-day of ^^ graft" and greed and 
political corruption in onr American cities. 
Did you ever think that those three were the 
monsters that, so long ago, brought Jesus 
Christ to his death? 

Jesus knew they would accomplish it. 

Such a fate could be resisted by organizing 
the country people against his foes, but that 
would mean civil war. Back in the desert he 
had decided to conquer men's hearts, not their 
bodies. 

It could be prevented by turning to some 
other country, where multitudes were ready 
to receive him. But this he felt would be 
cowardice in deserting his trust. 

He could keep on as before, fighting for the 
few who would accept in their hearts his king- 
dom of love to God and service for man. 

That meant death. 

We have seen Jesus as the gentleman, the 
friend, the helper of those in trouble. But 
he was more. He was ' ' God's man, ' ' obeying 
God 's Voice, trying to be to men what God is, 
to show our Father's full love to his children. 
Love costs. And in doing God's will, Jesus 
must pay the utmost cost. Because he loved 
men, he must die for them. Every step to- 
ward Jerusalem was a step toward death. 

And yet he would take them, every one. 

Even in the desert the right way had 
seemed dark and dangerous. Now it was no 
longer dark. It was deadly. 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 153 

Almost any man will dare a heroic death 
if he is brought suddenly into a great emer- 
gency. The very need of instant action leaves 
no time for fear. 

The greatest hero is he who sees death far 
ahead, knows he can escape it if he chooses, 
thinks of it day after day, and then deliberate- 
ly walks on and meets it face to face. 

This is what Jesus did. 

He started now from Capernaum, as soon 
as he could get the Twelve away. And this 
time they went north again, up the Jordan 
valley, to Herod Philip's Caesarea,* the new 
northern capital which the king of the north 
country had builded upon the very shoulder 
of lofty Mount Hermon. It was a city of true 
Roman magnificence, at the northern outpost 
of Israel and the sources of the Jordan. 

On the way he taught the village people, 
who, like those east of the river, were largely 
of foreign descent. 

He stopped one day to rest in the shade. 
He was seated on a mossy stone. His friends 
were reclining around him. It was peaceful 
and still under those mighty cedars. The 
world seemed far away. Suddenly Jesus 
made it seem very near again. 

^^By the way," he said, ^^who do people 
outside say that I am 1 ' ' 

That question must have been asked in the 
hearing of these twelve men a thousand times, 

* See Note 25. 



154 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

if it had been once, during the past two years. 

Do you know, it is a question that is usually 
answered easily enough. Did any one ask, 
^^Who is Herod Philip?" instantly the an- 
swer would be, ' ' He is king of the north coun- 
try. " " Who is Herod Antipas T ' " King of 
Galilee and Perea.'' ^^Caiaphasl" ^^He is 
our high priest.'' Even ^^Who is Simon 
Peter?" ^^Why, he is a fisherman of Caper- 
naum. ' ' 

But who is Jesus? 

People could not agree. 

The Twelve reported what they were say- 
ing. 

^^Some say, John the Baptizer." 

^^Some say, Elijah." 

^^And some, Jeremiah." 

^^And others say, Another one of the old 
prophets, perhaps Moses, come back again. ' ' 

' ' But what do you say ? ' ' insisted Jesus. 

There was a long pause. 

Had they not wrestled together over this 
question during all the months that they had 
walked behind Jesus over those northern hill- 
slopes ? Had they not been forced to dismiss 
one after another of these popular answers? 
What did they have in their place ? Did they 
all agree? 

Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot had 
joined Jesus because they believed he would 
lead an insurrection against Eome. His cous- 
ins James and Jude had hoped to advance 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 155 

their own prospects in life by the good for- 
tunes of their distinguished relative. John 
and the older James, altho they were truly his 
friends, also hoped for high offices in the new 
kingdom they expected he was about to estab- 
lish. Andrew believed in him because of what 
the prophet John had said about him, and his 
brother, Simon Peter, believed in him because 
he had learned to love him. Matthew and 
Nathaniel and Thomas were perfectly unsel- 
fish in their devotion. They trusted him, but 
they did not understand him. 

You get out of patience with the Twelve 
because they were so slow to believe what we 
all believe now about Jesus. But we have to 
remember—what might not be true of you 
and me, if we were in their places— that even 
when they did not believe, they stood by him! 

Jesus was waiting for their answer. 

Finally, Simon, who had paused, not to be 
more certain, but to make his words more 
plain, said solemnly, 

^^You are the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God!'' 

Jesus grasped him eagerly by the hand. To 
find a man who understood him gave him the 
gladdest moment of his life. 

' ' Happy man ! " he exclaimed, ' ' Simon, son 
of Jonah. You did not get this from men. 
This came to you from my heavenly Father. 
And I will tell you again who you are. You 
are the Man like Rock, and upon such rock 



156 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

(the carpenter is speaking) I will build my 
church, and the Powers of Death shall never 
overcome it! And to yon, Peter, I give the 
keys. Yon shall be Chancellor of the King- 
dom. ' ' 

But a rock can be something else beside a 
good foundation stone. 

That very day Jesus went on to tell them 
all what end he foresaw for himself as the 
close of his work for men : those law-teachers 
and the priests and the Pharisees would con- 
spire against him in Jerusalem, and there he 
must die. 

As they all started on, Peter, who was walk- 
ing beside him, drew Jesus to him and began 
to remonstrate with him. The new Chancellor 
thought he might as well give his king a little 
wise counsel. His loving heart, too, could not 
bear this terrible fear. 

^ ^ God help you. Master ! " he said in broken 
tones, ' ' That shall never be your fate. ' ' 

Weakness of soul is not to be borne even 
from one's staunchest friend. 

He swung Peter's hand from his shoulder, 
and, turning, flashed upon him this sentence : 

^ ' Out of my way. Tempter ! Now you are 
a stumbling-stone to me. You look at things 
in man's way, not in God's." 

It was a hard moment for Jesus when the 
voice of his strongest friend was raised 
against his great decision. 

He called the others up to where they two 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 157 

were standing, and said sternly, ^^If a man 
wants to go always where I go, he must re- 
nounce self, and take up his Cross every day, 
and follow me. ' ' 

The word ^^ Cross'' does not strike us to- 
day with any peculiar force, but it was then 
a horrible word. It was the punishment used 
only by their Roman tyrants for the most 
shameful crimes. When Jesus spoke thus, 
it was as if he had said: ^^If you follow me, 
every day you must walk behind me on the 
way to the gallows ! ' ' 

Seeing how shocked they looked, he instant- 
ly added this kindlier promise : ' ' But believe 
me ; some of you who stand here will certainly 
not die until you have seen God's kingdom 
come in power. ' ' 

About a week later the lonely hero pre- 
pared his soul for death. 

He left nine of his friends in a village at 
the foot of the mountain, and took Peter and 
John and James with him. These three, the 
Man of Rock and the Sons of Thunder, he felt 
he could trust. 

They had all seen the kinglike crest of this 
sacred mountain from almost every point in 
their native country, but they had never ap- 
proached it before. 

Soon they left the vineyards around the 
villages, passed the many little shrines to 
Roman and Grecian gods that peeped from 
many a ravine or crowned the crests, and 



158 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

crossed the snow-worn gravel beneath the 
loftier peaks above. 

It was the late autumn, and the forest-paths 
were as golden as the halls of heaven. The 
plains below were carpets of Oriental splen- 
dor. 

When night fell, the four strong climbers 
had ascended far into the rarer atmosphere, 
and they ate their supper beside some icy 
brook that gushed from the snow-line, just 
above. 

From this silent eyrie they could look up 
to the snowy summit and see off as far south 
as the Holy City itself. They could plainly 
discern the little lake whereon were their 
homes. They looked from the waste beyond 
Damascus at the east to the Great Sea, now 
touched with the glory of the sunset. But 
they were so far above all these earthly scenes 
that they felt themselves in another world. 

The unaccustomed air made them drowsy, 
and soon the three fishermen were rolled up 
in their heavy sheepskin cloaks beside the 
camp-fire, and were at once asleep. 

But Jesus was thrilled, rather than over- 
come, by the star-decked sky, the snowy plains 
and the silent world below. He seemed to be 
looking down on all his past life. 

Did he question it all ! AVas it a new temp- 
tation? 

At midnight the fishermen heard voices, 
and sprang up half-awake. 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 159 

Jesus towered in the moonlight above them. 
Never had his splendid physique looked more 
heroic. In the wondrous glow of moon and 
snow, his face and long, white cloak seemed 
dazzling with splendor. He was talking, talk- 
ing about his death. And he was not talking 
to himself. He seemed to be debating, ques- 
tioning, answering. They were sure that they 
saw others with him. The conversation in the 
valley suggested to them that they were the 
two ancients, Moses and Elijah. 

The prince, who had gone down to become 
the leader of a nation of slaves, and the 
prophet, who had given his life to a thankless 
people, were witnesses to the glory of a life 
of love. The two patriots who had not failed 
to find noble successors— in the commander 
Joshua and the healer Elisha— could tell him 
that such lives as theirs and his could not 
finally perish. The man who had passed 
from earth by the kiss of God, and the one 
who had gone up in a chariot of fire, could 
say that death is nothing to be feared. 

And as they talked, the face of Jesus 
glowed with even more unearthly beauty. 
Whatever the struggle of those hours, Jesus 
had triumphed. This hour he stood on the 
mountain summit of his life's joy. 

Even while the' disciples were looking and 
listening, one of those billowy clouds, which 
nearly always rests upon the summit, rolled 



160 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

down like a flood of snow, and the thunders 
rolled from peak to peak. 

Now, indeed, they had seen the real glory 
of God's Son, happy in conquering death, 
beaming with life immortal. And they fell 
upon the ground and hid their faces with 
fright. 

When the cloud passed they could see no 
one but Jesus. He was now close beside them, 
and he said with his usual cheeriness, ^^Up! 
Don't be afraid." 

After it was all over, Peter remembered 
with shame that he had babbled something 
about building some leafy tents, ^ so that the 
guests of the vision might remain, as if he 
could confine heaven in a mountain-shep- 
herd's hut. 

So, Jesus went down the mountain strength- 
ened, not for translation, but for crucifixion, 
to which he was to pass, not in company with 
two saints, but between two murderers. 

Together they walked down to meet the ris- 
ing sun. At the old bridge over the Jordan, 
at the foot, they found a jeering crowd, gath- 
ered around a helpless boy, whom their 
friends who had stayed below had tried in 
vain to relieve. 

Sharp was the contrast to their eyes, that 
had just been blinded by a heavenly vision. 
But if they had had sight to see, it was an 
even more glorious thing to watch how pa- 

*SeeNote 19. 



THE KING IS SEEN IN HIS GLORY 161 

tiently Jesus bent down among his limp- 
hearted disciples and cured the young suffer- 
er. For the valley, not the mountain, is man's 
home. But the brook that gives men drink in 
the valley has its source on the mountains. 
So, altho they did not speak of this night 
until after Jesus' death, they never forgot it, 
and when that death came, and even when 
they faced danger and death themselves, they 
were comforted by what Peter called ^^the 
Voice from heaven, when we were with Him, 
in the Holy Mount." 

That Voice, to which Jesus had listened all 
his life, had said, 

' ' This is the Beloved, my Son, who pleases 
me so well. Listen to him. ' ' 



XVI 
NEARING THE HOLY CITY 

Now he began to talk about going to Jeru- 
salem. He spoke often these days about the 
cost henceforth of his service to himself and 
to those who followed him. 

One day a young man, noble and rich, came 
rushing to him and fell on his knees, and 
asked to be numbered with the Twelve. The 
faces of his friends lighted up at the idea of 
receiving such an influential ally. 

Jesus looked at him with tender regard, 
and then he turned to the dark, seamed faces 
of those faithful few who had followed him 
for three years through storm and sun, favor 
and fury. It took a great soul to measure up 
to those giants. 

^^Go!" he said solemnly, ^'and sell every- 
thing that you have and give to the poor. 
Then come and follow me. ' ' 

But he was very rich. And he rose hesi- 
tatingly from his knees and turned and was 
soon lost in the crowd. 

Then Jesus looked again at his disciples. 

^^With what sore striving shall they win to 
heaven that have the riches ! ' ' 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 163 

They were astonished at this new idea. But 
Jesus said again : 

^^My children, what sore striving shall it 
be to enter God's kingdom. It seems easier/' 
he added with a wry smile, ^^for a camel to 
get through a needle's eye than for a rich 
man to enter into God's kingdom." 

' ' Then who can be saved ! ' ' they exclaimed. 

' ' And we ? " interrupted Peter sadly. ' ' We 
laid down everything and have followed 
you." 

^^Yes," answered Jesus heartily, ^^and no- 
body who has, like you, left home or brothers 
or sisters or mother or father or children or 
land on my account, and for the sake of my 
Good News^ shall fail of a hundred times as 
much, even now in the present— tho not with- 
out persecutions— and, in the Good Time 
Coming, life enduring. But," he added, 
^^many that were first shall be hindmost, and 
many of the hindmost shall be first." 

This remark gave encouragement to a wish 
that had long been cherished by two of his 
friends. 

John and James, the brothers for whom 
he felt the highest trust and love, came to him 
when he was alone, led by their mother, who 
was also one of those good women who had 
been helping him in Galilee. With unusual 
respect they bent low before him as if he 
were a king. 



164 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^What do you want, madam!" he asked 
Salome courteously. 

^'Sir,'' she said hesitatingly, ^^I want you 
to do for us whatever we ask you. ' ' 

^^What is it you want me to do for you?'^ 

^^I want you to say that in your Kingdom 
these two sons of mine shall sit, as viceroys, 
one on your right side and the other on your 
left.'' 

Was it not a joy to hear this warm con- 
fidence of his nearest friends in his success? 
But did they realize what that ^^ success" 
meant ? 

^' You don't know what you are asking," he 
responded warmly. 

^^Are you fit to drink the cup that I have 
to drink?" 

^^Yes," the two young men shouted, think- 
ing he meant the wine cup of royalty, ^^we 
can. ' ' 

^^You shall indeed drink my cup," he said 
sadly, thinking of the sufferings they should 
bear for him, ^^but as to the seat— that is not 
mine to give. It belongs to those to whom it 
has been assigned by my Father." 

With such new sternness as this Jesus faced 
the great struggle of his life. All around him 
was danger. His Twelve were true, but just 
now even the two best had shown that they 
understood him no more than children, and 
that they were thoroughly selfish. They had 
ceased to be a help to him. He was complete- 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 165 

ly alone. As they walked behind hnn^ strid- 
ing straight on to what they restlessly feared 
was some disaster, they were amazed at his 
silence, and when they looked into his up- 
lifted face they grew afraid of him. He was 
going to the front. The Captain was hasten- 
ing to the firing-line. 

There is an old legend that wherever Jesus 
walked, by night or day, a light followed and 
surrounded him. Certain it is that from the 
time when he turned his face toward Jeru- 
salem, while he was no less human and lov- 
ing, the light of the Transfiguration seemed 
to grow and hover about him continually. 

He seemed to regard Death as some mighty 
warrior with whom he was even eager to have 
a duel. They were astonished one day to hear 
him exclaim as he pressed his hand to his 
brow: ^^Oh! this baptism that I am to be 
baptized with!— how I feel shackled until it is 
accomplished ! ' ' 

Yet never was he more thoughtful in plan- 
ning to do all his work well than now, with 
his martyrdom fully in sight. 

Three things, he told them, he had to do 
before his death. 

First, he must reach just as many of his 
countrymen with his message as possible. 

Second, he must make one more appeal for 
loyalty to Jerusalem, the city that was the 
heart of Israel. 

Third, he must prepare the Twelve to carry 



166 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

on his work after he was gone from their 
sight. 

He did the first thing by multiplying him- 
self by eighty-two. Just before he left Galilee 
he chose seventy more messengers, whom for 
this special purpose he added to the Twelve. 

Into every city or hamlet which he expected 
to visit he sent them before him to prepare 
the people. 

Their marching orders were much the same 
as the Twelve had received at first, only they 
were not limited to the Israelites. Into de- 
spised Samaria they went, and there Jesus 
followed, finding, however, that his old 
friends there would have nothing to do with 
him, because he would not promise to leave 
the Jews and live with them. This so 
angered John and James (the Thunderers) 
that they urged Jesus to smite the narrow- 
minded wretches with fire from the sky. 
Which, of course, Jesus did not propose to 
do. All up and down the tableland east of 
the Jordan they wandered, among its mixed 
population of shepherds, and he was never 
far behind them. From Jericho up to Jeru- 
salem they climbed, through the dangerous 
desert of John and the temptations, and Jesus, 
tireless, climbed close to them. 

The proclamation they carried was so sim- 
ple that they could easily learn it. How 
many have been comforted by it since then ! 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 167 

^^ Jesus says: 

Come to Me, all you who are toiling 

And moiling with heavy burdens, 

And I will rest you ! 

Take My Yoke upon you, and learn from Me, 

Because I am meek and gentle-hearted, 

And you shall find rest for your souls. 

For My Yoke is easy 

And My Burden is light/ ^ 

It was the message of a carpenter-king. 
The yokes he had made for the water-pots in 
Nazareth had eased those who had burdens 
to carry up the hills. The Yoke of his royal 
Law of Love would make easy all the burdens 
of people who worked and were tired. 

^'Come to Me," he said. 

Once it was it, the kingdom, now it was He, 
the King. It was time for m^n to see that to 
have the kingdom which he taught they need- 
ed only to follow him. 

To wear a crown and possess a kingship is 
not to be a king. To be a king is to have men 
who believe in you. So Jesus was already a 
king. 

The Seventy came back triumphant. 

''Sir," they said, ''even foul spirits submit 
when we use your name. ' ' 

He smiled with joy. 

"Ah!" said he. "I have dreamed of the 
Tempter himself fallen like a lightning flash 
from the sky." 



168 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

He saw now that his work could never die. 
The name of not one of the Seventy has been 
remembered, but that single message of Jesus 
told even by unknown men has transformed 
the world. 

Do you believe that^ 

^^The world is not all good yet/' you may 
say. 

But what was Jesus' world? 

It had not a hospital for the sick. There 
was no shelter for friendless old people or 
little children. It had not a single skilled 
physician. Human life was very cheap. The 
weak were often exposed on mountains to die. 
Prisoners were killed for a thousand petty 
crimes, or tortured or left in hopeless dun- 
geons at the mere nod of the emperor. 
Borne 's favorite sport was the killing of 
slaves in the arena. Every nation hated 
every other one. Wars were continual. 
Women were burden-bearers. The majority 
of the human race were bond-slaves. Except 
in Israel, there were no real homes. The 
world had its noble and generous spirits, but 
for the most part it was a world of cruelty 
and hatred and sorrow. 

Do you need to be told how it has changed 
since then! 

Can you think of any institution of kind- 
ness and mercy that has come that has not 
come because of Jesus? Most of them have 
even borne his name. 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 169 

And now as to his approach to Jerusalem. 

His own brothers, ever since the people had 
tried to make him king after the great sup- 
per by the lake, seem to have felt that Jesus 
had made a great mistake. Their visit to the 
Passover probably persuaded them that the 
Jerusalemites were ripe for revolt. There he 
could recover his lost chance. Such must 
have been their motive— for certainly they 
could not have meant him real harm— when, 
on their return, they came to him and said : 

^^Go on, now; march up to Jerusalem to 
the harvest-feast, so that those who believe in 
you there may see the signs you do. ' ' 

But Jesus told them sadly, as he had once 
told his mother, ^^It is not time for me yet. 
Your time is always ready. ' ' 

They went on without him, but a few days 
later he went up quietly, through Samaria, 
with the Twelve. 

The priests and the Pharisees had already 
decided to destroy him. 

Some of the Pharisees who were not sharers 
in the plot met him and warned him to leave 
the city at once or he would be killed, either 
by their own rulers or by Herod. 

When he heard the name of the murderer 
of his friend John, Jesus ' face kindled. 

^ ^ Go to that fox ! " he thundered out. ' ' Say 
to him: Take notice! I am going to drive 
out evil spirits to-day and to-morrow. On 
the third day I shall complete my work. Then 



170 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

I must go on my way, because 'a prophet 
must not die outside of Jerusalem ! ' " 

In Jerusalem? What! In God's Holy 
City? Yes. 

' ' Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! " he exclaimed. 
^^She who kills the prophets and stones the 
messengers sent to her— Oh, how often I have 
longed to gather your children round me, as 
a hen takes her chickens under her wings, and 
you would not come ! ' ' 

But he refused to run away. 

You must remember that Jesus was quite 
unknown in the capital. Only during the few 
days when at an earlier Passover he was 
helping John had he ever taught there, and 
his brave cleansing of the temple had been 
soon forgotten. 

The common i3eople at once became inter- 
ested in him. 

^^He is a good man," one shopkeeper was 
overheard saying. 

^^No, no,'' said his conservative neighbor. 
' ' He is leading people astray. ' ' 

Just then Jesus himself passed by their 
store booths. 

' ' Why are you all trying to kill me I ' ' Jesus 
asked them. 

They were astonished, for they had not 
heard of these plots of their rulers. 

' ' You must be crazy, ' ' the}^ replied. ' ' No- 
body wants to kill you. ' ' 

And one of them began to say to the other, 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 171 

' ' This is not the one, is it, that they are eager 
to put to death? AVhy, here he is, speaking 
out boldly, and they do not say anything to 
him. Is it possible that our leaders have 
found out that he is really the Christ? But, 
then, we all know where he came from. Does 
the Christ come out of Galilee? Doesn't the 
Scripture say that it is of the race of David 
and out of Bethlehem, the village to which 
David belonged, that the true Christ is to 
come ? ' ' 

And the other added, ' ' But when the Christ 
comes will he be able to give more signs of 
his mission than this man ? ' ' 

They began to feel some confidence in 
Jesus. 

In the meantime the rulers had sent police- 
men to arrest him. 

Their council, called the Sanhedrin, was in 
session when they returned empty-handed. 

^^Well,'' said Hanan ^^the vulture," the 
high priest's father-in-law, their real leader, 
^^Why haven't you brought him?" 

Said the Eoman captain with a blush, ^^No 
man has ever spoken like this one ! ' ' 

^^What!" replied Hanan with a sneer, 
^^you aren't going to be one of his converts, 
are you? Have any of us gone over to him, 
or any of the Pharisees? As for the rabble 
—they are cursed, anyway." 

But some of the rest said, ^^What are we 
going to do? For this man does show many 



172 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

signs of his mission. If we let him alone like 
this, everybody will believe in him, and then 
the Eomans will come in, after he has stirred 
the people np, and will rob ns of our temple 
and onr nation." 

Then the high priest himself spoke. 

^^You don't know anything abont it. Yon 
don't seem to realize that it is for our advan- 
tage that one man should die, for the people, 
instead of the whole nation being destroyed. ' ' 

At that point the member who had learned 
to believe in Jesns the day when he cleansed 
the temple took courage and spoke out. 

' ' Sir, ' ' said he, ' ' does our Law pass judg- 
ment on a man without first giving him a 
hearing, and finding out what he is doing?" 

Caiaphas was very angry. 

'^Ah! You are a Galilean, too, are you?" 
he flung back at him. ^^Look in your Scrip- 
tures! You will find that no prophet is go- 
ing to arise out of Galilee. ' ' 

A few of these councillors, influenced per- 
haps by Nicodemus' words, did stop on the 
way out to listen to Jesus. 

Had any conqueror ever come to his capital 
city as Jesus did?* 

When Napoleon, fresh returned from his 
victories across the Alps, awaited his election 
by the people as emperor, he had already 
crowded Paris with his soldiers. When 
nobler Caesar came home from his successes 
against Pompey^ he won the heart of Eome by 

* See Note 28. ■ 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 173 

four magnificent triumphs, commemorating 
in turn his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus 
and Africa. But when Jesus came to claim 
Jerusalem's allegiance, he offered the city 
nothing but himself. 

The two shopkeepers, mentioned above, 
went up to the temple one day to hear him 
talk. This was what they saw : 

The priests in their flowing, white robes 
bound with their wide, bright-colored silken 
girdles, and led by their chief, adorned with 
his jewelled regalia, swept majestically across 
the grassy terrace, but they met no armed 
soldier and no display of pomp or power. A 
brown-haired peasant, speaking the distinct 
country dialect of the north country, was 
seated among a few friends, dressed in coarse 
garments like himself, talking to a group of 
the poorer people of the city. He seemed 
like a shepherd, not like a king. 

Here, where the learned doctors had taught 
him when a boy, he taught, but not as they. 
He was telling the people stories. Napoleon 
and Caesar had entered their capitals with 
armies to win power for themselves. Here 
was Jesus, single-handed, forgetful of self, 
pleading only for the rights of God and the 
rights of man. 

The two shopkeepers happened by when he 
was telling one of his favorite stories about 
^^How Poor People Appreciate God^s King- 
dom. ' ' 



174 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^Once upon a time a king was giving a 
great dinner, a bridal-feast for his son. He 
invited many people and sent a servingman, 
when it was time for the dinner, to tell the 
invited guests to come, as things were quite 
ready. 

^^But they all alike began begging to be 
excused. 

' ' The first man said to the servant, ' I have 
just bought a field and I am obliged to go 
and look at it. I beg you politely to present 
my excuses.' 

^^The next one said, ^I have bought five 
pairs of bullocks and I am on my way to try 
them. I beg you politely to present my ex- 
cuses. ' 

^^But the next one said brusquely, ^I am 
just married— and I can't come.' 

''On his return the servingman repeated 
all these answers to his master. 

^^ Enraged at them, the owner of the house 
then said to his servant. ' Go out at once into 
the streets and alleys of the town, and bring 
in here the poor and the crippled and the 
blind and the lame. ' 

^^ Pretty soon the servant came again and 
said, ^Master, your order has been carried 
out. And yet there is room.' 

^^ ^Go out,' said the king, 4nto the roads 
and hedgerows and make people, both ill and 
well-favored, come in, so that my house may 
be filled. For, I tell you all, not one of those 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 175 

men who were invited shall have a taste of 
my dinner. '—And thus the bridal had its 
guests.'' 

There was a quiet laugh around the entire 
company. One shopkeeper nudged his fellow. 
Everybody saw the point. The Pharisees had 
by their pride and attention to their petty ob- 
servances really excused themselves out-of- 
doors from the Father's feast, while they, 
themselves, because they knew they were 
needy, might be wise enough to enter. 

The Pharisees were furious. 

Then Jesus continued, as he saw how ex- 
ultant the people felt: 

''But the king, coming around to see his 
guests, spied a man, lacking a wedding gar- 
ment. Says he to him, ' Friend, how came you 
here without your wedding garment?' And 
he had nothing to say. Then said the king 
to his servitors, 'Bind him hand and foot and 
cast him out into the darkness. ' There is the 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. ' ' 

The two shopkeepers looked at each other 
more soberly. The point was toward them 
now. It was not enough to get in, then. One 
must be fit for the feast of the kingdom. 

The Pharisees rushed at him as soon as he 
had finished. 

"You are a Samaritan!" said one of the 
councillors savagely. ' ' You are crazy ! ' ' 

And it made them so angry to hear him 
that they actually collected a mob about the 



176 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

temple, armed with stones, to kill him at once, 
without a trial. 

You can see how mnch justice could be ex- 
pected from this kind of a court. 

But quite a number of the common people 
believed in what he said. 

He left the city when the festival was over, 
but, two months later, at about Christmas, he 
came boldly in again, at the next national 
festival, that of the Eededicating of the 
Temple. 

He was walking in the shelter of the Colon- 
nade of Solomon, when a company of the 
rulers met him again. They were a little 
more respectful this time. It may be that his 
wonderful success in winning people had 
made them wonder whether he might not 
really become, under their own management, 
a patriotic deliverer from the Eomans. 

^^How long are you going to keep us in 
suspense r' they asked. ^^If you really are 
the Christ, tell us frankly.'' 

^^I have told you,'' said Jesus, ^^and you 
do not believe me. All the things I am doing 
by my Father's authority bear testimony to 
me. The Father and I are at one. ' ' 

^ * Blasphemy ! ' ' they shouted furiously, 
bending down to snatch stones again to kill 
him. 

They could not scare him. 

^^I have done many good actions in your 



NEARING THE HOLY CITY 177 

presence, with the Father's help. For which 
one of them are yon going to stone me ? ' ' 

^^It is not for any good action. It is for 
blasphemy. Yon keep making yonrself ont 
to be God." 

^'I said, ^I am God's son,' " he answered 
qnietly. ^^Even onr Law has this statement 
in one place, ^Ye are gods.' If those to whom 
God's words were spoken were said to be 
^gods,' why do yon cry ont against me, onr 
Father's spokesman, when I merely say, ^I 
am God's son?' " 

Do yon see what he meant? 

^^I am God's son, yes, and every man is 
meant to be a child of God. ' ' 

That was what Jesns stood for. That was 
all he wanted men to see. 

Bnt greed and meanness had made these 
men so afraid that they were going to lose 
something if the world shonld believe snch 
teaching that they were bonnd to kill its 
teacher. 

So, again they drove him from the city. 

Again the leaders had disowned him, bnt 
the common people, as in Galilee, were even 
more eager to hear him. 

When he was driven from the Holy City 
he carried ont his third plan. In a little un- 
known hamlet, near the desert, and across the 
Jordan, in the pastures of Moab, and in the 
valley of the Jordan, close to the place of his 
baptism, he kept the Twelve near him until 

♦See Note 26. 



178 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

his last Passover, warning them patiently of 
the sorrow that was to come— which they 
could not believe— and telling them what to 
do after he was killed. 

Had not Jesus really failed ? 

Judea had never paid him attention. Gali- 
lee, and even Samaria, had already rejected 
him. Jerusalem was not deeply moved. 

He had the Twelve, a few Galileans, a few 
foreigners. There were not six hundred per- 
sons on his side. And soon he was to die, and 
was this the measure of his ^^ kingdom!" 
"Wliat was to prevent his being entirely for- 
gotten? 

Do you realize how little Jesus seemed to 
worry about being remembered I He built no 
temple, organized no society, wrote no book. 
He did not even appoint any one to write his 
biography. His company had a treasurer, 
but no secretary. Indeed, who was there 
among them all, unless it was Matthew, who 
was competent to write a memorial of Jesus ? 

But it is not how many, it is how much men 
believe. 

We have seen what God the Father could 
do with one Life that was all his own. AATiat 
could he not do even with five hundred ? 

We look out to-day on a world that has been 
leavened with the life of Jesus, and we re- 
member what he said : 

^^The Victory that conquers the World is 
your Faith. ' ^ 



XVII 
THE HEIRS OF HIS KINGDOM 

' ' CoME^ sister Enth, it is time to get up. ' ' 

It was a boy who spoke these words, and the 
drowsy listener was a baby of three or four. 

Eemember that she was not lying in a little 
white bed, in a sunny chamber, in our own 
country. She was curled up in a dark corner 
of a small room, on a brown mattress, that 
lay on a hard earthen floor. 

Tho the little room was small and bare, it 
was clean and cool. Along the sides ran long 
shelves, and upon these the busy mother was 
already laying, folded up, the thin mats, upon 
which the family had been sleeping. Over 
these shelves were two cupboards, where food 
and dishes were kept. There were a few 
rushes spread on the floor, a lamp stood on a 
basket in one corner and in another the break- 
fast was spread on a low, square bench. The 
door was open, and the sky and fields looked 
pleasant outside. The father and older broth- 
ers were already at work out in the vineyard. 

The little one awoke with a smile, as she 
saw her big brother bending over her. 

^^Come, baby,'' he said, ^4ook! See how 



180 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

bright the flowers are after the rain, and how 
fresh the air is. It is going to be a fine day 
for our journey, isn't it, mother?" 

^^Yes," answered the mother hurriedly, ^4t 
is a beautiful day, but we shall never get 
started at all if a boy I know doesn't get his 
sister ready." 

Then the boy helped his little sister splash 
her face and hands with water and gave her 
the breakfast that was waiting. 

There had been a great deal for the mother 
to do that day. Dinner must be prepared for 
the father and the two older boys, the lunch 
must be put up and the house must be left 
clean. Restless Euth must be held still until 
her. short, brown hair had been braided in 
three smooth strands, her little bright new 
tunic must be girdled carefully with the many- 
colored sash, the boy's jacket must be mended 
where it was last torn, and the mother must 
hastily arrange her own long, black hair and 
put on the neat blue gown which was kept 
folded on the top shelf for extra occasions. 

All this time the mother's usually sunny 
face was clouded. Her husband had not been 
pleased with her proposed excursion. 

^^A foolish trip," he had said, and ^ ^you'll 
only have your trouble for your pains." 

At length all was ready, and they walked 
from the open door into the sunshine* It was 
still early in the day, and the dew was not all 
gone, while a cool freshness still lingered in 



THE HEIRS OF HIS KINGDOM 181 

the shade. The narrow pathway wound now 
along the deep bed of a brook, now over a 
bare headland, where brown-legged sheep 
were grazing, and then went zigzag through 
a grain field which was green with the soft- 
ness of March. 

Somehow the day grew happier as soon as 
they were out of doors, and when they ate 
their lunch beside the brook all the shadows 
of the morning had passed away. 

It was not a very long journey that they 
had to take, and they walked very slowly, for 
the baby was not a very vigorous traveler. 

The last part of the way was the hardest. 
Ruth, who had at first run hither and thither 
chasing butterflies— like them in her bright 
clothing and ceaseless flitting— began to take 
slower and more sober steps, and at length 
cried for her mother's arms. The boy, whose 
name was Joseph, took turns in carrying her, 
but before long they both of them got very 
tired with their sleepy burden. 

At length they came to the end of their jour- 
ney. Just outside a little village at a cross- 
roads were an old man and a lame man with 
a crutch, and a few women and children seat- 
ed on stones beside the highway. 

They were all looking down the road that 
led to the village. 

Within a short time they saw a dust cloud 
and all sprang to their feet with eagerness. 

As the dust rose nearer they could see who 



182 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

was coming. A tall young man, followed by 
a dozen others of various ages, walked vigor- 
ously and swiftly toward them. He was sing- 
ing. 

Instantly it seemed as if the other roads 
were full of people, and quite a crowd soon 
collected. 

Was he a physician? For the sick were 
being brought to his attention. Was he a 
teacher? For the people were crowding to 
ask him questions. Was he a soldier? For 
the strong men who surrounded him obeyed 
instantly his commands. 

The mother had caught up her baby, who 
was just waking up, and Joseph stood, some- 
what frightened, close beside her. 

One of the older men who followed the 
youth spied a delegation of village councillors 
coming up the road to greet him. He elbowed 
his way ahead of his leader to make a passage 
for him. 

^^Away, woman,'' he said in a tone of au- 
thority, somewhat loud, to the mother who 
was peering up to the young man's face. ^^Do 
not be troubling the teacher with your chil- 
dren. He is tired." 

The woman shrank back, grieved as a tim- 
orous child. 

But instantly the teacher's hand was on 
Simon's shoulder. 

^^ Suffer the little ones also to come unto 
me, ' ' he gently said. 



THE HEIRS OF HIS KINGDOM 183 

All that Peter had seen was a tired, dnsty 
woman of the humbler class, holding a baby 
with tear-stained cheeks close to her bosom, 
and an ordinary boy beside her. But Jesus 
saw more. He saw a loving mother who be- 
lieved in his goodness and who fondly hoped 
that a word of blessing from the teacher 
might act, as the touch of the ancient prophets 
was wont to do, as a kindly spell over her 
dear ones. He looked at the children and he 
saw in their pure faces the hope of the world 
when all these older people were in their 
graves. 

He took the baby from the mother's aching 
arms and he beckoned the boy to a seat on 
the stone beside him, near the roadway. 

^^ These," he said to the other people who 
looked in wonder to see a rabbi folding a baby 
to his bosom, ^^ these belong to the kingdom of 
heaven. Whoever does not take the kingdom 
as a little child does is never coming into it, 
and whoever does any harm to any of these 
little ones— it would be better for him," he 
added grimly, ^4f he had a millstone hung 
around his neck and he were dropped down 
into the middle of the sea. ' ' 

Immediately the ather mothers took cour- 
age, and he was soon surrounded by a whole 
flock of bairns. 

As they drew near to him Jesus was heard 
to say, 

^^ Whoever shall welcome one of such little 



184 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

ones as these^ for the sake of me, welcomes 
me, and he who welcomes me, welcomes Him 
that sent me. ' ' 

He called them up to him one by one, and 
to all who were old enough to understand 
him he said a friendly or cheerful word. And 
upon the heads of all he laid his hands, and, 
looking up to heaven, asked a blessing for 
them.^ 

As mother and Joseph and the baby turned 
to their homeward journey, the shadows were 
already creeping across the valleys. 

They stopped on the first small rise and 
looked back. The people were already scat- 
tering to their homes, and far along the wind- 
ing road they could see the Lord Jesus hasten- 
ing southward with his friends. 

They did not know that he would be walk- 
ing all night to bring help to the home of a 
friend far, far away. They did not know that 
he was on his way to meet the scourge and the 
cross for them and for all the world. But it 
was precious to all the world afterward to 
remember that his last farewell to Perea, be- 
yond Jordan, had been to brighten all the 
future by blessing the children. 

The road home did not seem long. The air 
was cooler and the dew was falling. And the 
mother's heart was so full of joy that she did 
not mind having to carry the baby, who al- 
ready seemed more dear to her because the 

* See Note 29. 



THE HEIRS OF HIS KINGDOM 185 

Lord's hands had been laid upon her. And 
the boy Joseph was happy, too. He was try- 
ing to sing the marching song that he had 
heard Jesns singing, and he was thinking of 
the word Jesus had spoken in his ear, a brave 
word, about what he wanted him to try to be 
when he grew up and became a man. 

It was not long, then, before they came in 
sight of the home cottage, with father stand- 
ing in the door and the boys running to meet 
them. 

How much they had to tell as they ate their 
supper ! 

Joseph told everything, except what the 
teacher had said to him. That was his own 
secret. 

^^ And what did he say to you, sister EuthT' 
asked the older brother David, laughing. 

^^Let me think," she answered, scowling up 
her dainty face. ^^He said, ^ Happy— are the 
pure— in heart, because they shall see— 
God.' " 

They were all still for a moment. It 
seemed like a special message to each one. 
Even the strong father was touched to tears. 

That night the mother taught her little 
daughter to pray for the good teacher that 
he might be kept safe. In how many homes 
were little children and boys and girls pray- 
ing for their dear friend every night ! 

Soon they were all abed. And the pale 
moonlight fell upon a sleeping household and 



186 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

a resting world. But the Savior of men was 
tirelessly pressing on all night long to Beth- 
any, where sorrow and death awaited his com- 
forting. Tired mothers and little children 
had found rest in him— and he took his rest 
in God. 



XVIII 
THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 

For over two years Jesus had been home- 
less. 

True, he had provided for his mother a 
comfortable house in Capernaum, and his 
brothers and sisters were all living with their 
own families. 

But he himself was a wanderer. 

When another rabbi one day thought he 
wanted to join him, he discouraged the lazy 
man of indoor study by saying whimsically, 
^^ Foxes have holes^ wild birds have roosts, 
but I have no place of my own to lay my 
head.'' 

But there was one place which now offered 
itself to him, for the few days that were left, 
as his home. 

Bethany* was a small village, two miles 
east of Jerusalem, over the hill. 

Here lived a well-to-do family, known in 
Jerusalem. The father and mother were 
dead, but there remained two grown sisters 
and a brother, a boy of about sixteen. 

When Jesus got acquainted with them we 

""♦SeeNote 27. 



188 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

can not say. It may have been at his earliest 
visit to the city. But this we do know, that, 
like loyal Jews, they opened their house to 
visitors to the national festivals, and here 
Jesus was always entertained. 

To the harvest festival, as we have seen, 
had come Jesus, a few months before he visit- 
ed Perea. He spent this feast at Bethany and 
celebrated it at the home of his friends in 
accordance with the peculiar customs of his 
time. 

The festival was a thanksgiving, not only 
for the harvests of fruits, olive oil and grapes, 
but also for the successful end of the ancient 
wanderings of their forefathers in the wilder- 
ness. So the whole week was spent by the 
men and boys living in booths made of leafy 
branches, which were supposed to resemble 
the shelters in which their forefathers had 
encamped. Jesus and young Lazarus lodged 
in a small booth in the garden and the sisters 
in the house. They all spent their leisure in 
the daytime in a larger booth in the court- 
yard. 

While the Twelve and Lazarus were over in 
the city enjoying the festival, Mary, the 
younger sister, would sometimes sit in the 
shelter of the large booth and listen to Jesus. 
She was a young woman of brilliant mind and 
keen memory, and many of his sayings would 
have been lost to us if she had not remembered 
them and told them to others. 



THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 189 

The first day that Jesus was there, Martha, 
the housekeeper, was making the greatest 
preparations to do honor to her distinguished 
guest. Mary, too, had helped with those 
preparations, but she thought she could honor 
him better if she forgot everything else but 
this too short opportunity to listen to him. 

Everything seemed to go wrong with busy 
Martha that morning, and finally, as she was 
passing the open front of the booth where 
Mary sat, so much at ease, she snapped out, 
^^Well, sir, you don't seem to notice that my 
sister has left me to do all this work alone. ' ' 

There was no use getting angry at the tired 
woman. Jesus smiled in sympathy. 

''Oh, Martha, Martha!" he said, ''You cer- 
tainly are anxious and bustling about many 
things to-day. But really only a few are nec- 
essary—or, indeed, one. Mary has made a 
good choice,'' he added kindly, "and it is one 
that will not be taken away from her." 

It was Mary's good fortune to be present 
one day when Jesus first spoke to his friends 
words which are to-day taught to every Chris- 
tian child in all the world. How many times 
afterward she must have told the story, in 
words, perhaps, like these : 

' ' The Lord Jesus did not go up to the city 
until the festival was partly through. He was 
resting with us in his pleasant tent, open to 
the breeze, but not to the sun. 



190 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^Into our garden one day I came to show 
the way, and the Twelve followed me. 

^^We found him at prayer. 

^^His eyes were closed. His worn, tired 
face was shining. His hair, we began to no- 
tice, was streaked with gray. His lips, curved 
to a smile, moved slowly. 

' ' We would not interrupt him. 

^^We knelt at a little distance and watched 
him, and when at length he gently opened his 
eyes, we exclaimed with one accord, ^Lord, 
teach us how to pray. ' 

^^It was then that he taught us the prayer 
he had just been saying, which the world calls. 
The Lord's Prayer. We had thought before 
that prayer was a duty, but since we saw 
Jesus talking with our Father we have come 
to see that it is our recreation and our rest. ' ' 

Mary had another story, strange and won- 
derful, to tell the world : 

^^ After the Festival of Eededication in De- 
cember it was no longer safe for Jesus to stay 
near Jerusalem. It would have brought 
danger to his friends as well as to himself. 
So he spent this time with the Twelve, by 
themselves, in solitary places in Perea and 
Samaria, where he could warn them what they 
were to do and suffer after his death. 

^^In March, about five months after the 
harvest festival, our brother Lazarus fell sick. 
As soon as sister Martha had seen his hot face 



THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 191 

and felt his burning hands, her first task was 
to try to make him comfortable, and her next 
was to say briefly to me, 'Send for the Lord 
Jesns. ' 

''This was done at once, and with fresher 
courage we both turned to the anxious work 
before us. Martha is an excellent nurse, soft- 
footed and still, mistress of countless cooling 
draughts and home-made medicines, and all 
her skill was put into play, for she saw at 
once that he was very, very ill. And I did 
what I could to help the dear boy to rest and 
sleep. At first Lazarus tried bravely to get 
up, and when that was forbidden he lay quiet- 
ly and talked and laughed with us gaily, for 
he did not know what it was to be unwell. As 
he grew weaker, Martha told him that she had 
sent for the great Physician, and he was much 
pleased. Martha worked on in her busy way, 
her lips close pressed, and I, when my part 
was done, sat on the battlemented housestop 
until night, looking wearily down the road, 
up which we longed to see Jesus coming. And 
Lazarus, when in a few hours delirium seized 
him, rent our hearts with grief, by calling in- 
cessantly the name of his friend, the teacher. 
And before daybreak he was dead. 

"According to our custom, he was buried, 
at once, in the family tomb at the bottom of 
the garden. And we two sat silent, hand in 
hand, waiting for Jesus. 



192 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

'' 'It he had only been here, our brother 
would not have died, ' we wailed. 

' ' But we did not blame him, only it seemed 
that we must see his face. 

' ' The news reached Jesus, it seems, among 
the sheepfolds, far east of the Jordan. There 
was a whole day of necessary duty before he 
could even start. Then he spoke to the 
Twelve. 

'^ ^We must go back into Judea again,' he 
told them. 

" ^ Rabbi,' they said earnestly, Hhe Jews 
were only just now trying to stone you. Are 
you going there again ? ' 

^^With drawn, sad face he said gently, ^Our 
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I am going 
there to wake him. ' 

"' ^But if he is resting in sleep, he will get 
well,' said Peter, misunderstanding him. 

'' ^Lazarus is dead,' he answered softly. 
^Let us go to him.' 

' ' Still they held back. It might mean death 
to them all. 

^^Then Thomas, an obstinate fellow, hard 
to convince, but trusty and brave, said im- 
pulsively. 

" ^Come! Let us all go, and die with 
Jesus. ' 

^^The fourth day after our brother was 
buried, Martha was coming up the garden- 
walk from the tomb, when she saw a figure 



THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 193 

pass silently and swiftly under the arbor. It 
was John. 

'' ^Jesns is near!' he said, ^Come out quiet- 
ly and meet him.' For a company of our 
relatives and friends from Jerusalem was 
sitting about the house-door, lamenting. 

^ ^ A little way up the hill she met Jesus, who 
had hastened on ahead of the others. 

" ^Oh, Master!' she burst forth the one 
thought of those past long days : ^If you had 
been here, my brother would not have died ! ' 
And as she looked into his deep eyes and ma- 
jestic face, she added in unreasoning depend- 
ence, ^Even now, I still feel that God grants 
you whatever you ask him. ' 

" ^But, Martha,' said Jesus with a strange 
note of courage, ^your brother is going to rise 
again. ' 

^^ ^I know he will,' she said confidently— 
^at the Resurrection of the Last Day.' 

^^ ^I am the Resurrection!' he said. ^ Those 
who believe in me will never die. ' 

'' ^Yes, Master,' she said, ^I have learned 
to Relieve that you are the Christ, the Son of 
God, the very one that was to come into the 
world. ' 

^^She hurried into the house, where I sat, 
holding the precious spikenard, with which— 
I knew not why— I had still hesitated to anoint 
my brother 's body. 

'' ^Mar}^,' she whispered to me gently, ^the 
Master is here and he is asking for you. ' 



194 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST "^ 

^^I, too, clasped his knees and spoke the 
same fruitless wish as my sister. 

'' 'Where have yon bnried him?' Jesns 
asked me at once. He could not bear to enter 
the house where he had once been so happy. 

'' 'Come, Master, and see,' I answered. 

''Down beneath the arbor and through the 
flower-beds among which he had walked so 
often, we led him, the other mourners follow- 
ing at a distance. 

"He stood a moment at the stone door of 
the tomb, over which I had hung garlands of 
flowers from the garden and field. 

"The dear memory of the boy he loved, 
our heart-broken grief, overcame him. 

"Jesus burst into tears. 

"The mourners, who had never seen Jesus 
give way to any sorrow, whispered to each 
other, 'How he must have loved him!' 

"He whispered to Martha, 'Have the stone 
door rolled open. ' 

" 'But, Master,' she whispered back, hor- 
rified that Jesus should wish to look upon the 
body that had already changed so much, ' You 
forget that he has been dead four days.' 

' ' ' Believe in me, ' he said calmly, ' and you 
shall witness the glory of God.' 

"His form stirred as if with an inbreath- 
ing of divine majesty, he looked upward, 
whispered a sentence of thanksgiving, and 
then with a loud voice said, 

" 'Lazarus, come here!' 



THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 195 

^^And out from the dark cave, wrapped in 
white, our boy came, and knelt at the feet of 
Jesus/' 

A few days after this Jesus came up to his 
last Passover. 

Few expected him, for it was becoming 
known that the leaders had determined that 
Jesus must die. But he came, openly and 
boldly, and nearly a week before the great 
day of the festival. 

In the largest house in Bethany he was 
given a dinner. Martha was now a bride. 
The wedding, which had been interrupted by 
her brother's sickness, had been celebrated 
with joy, and the husband, one of those whom 
Jesus had cured, was as eager as she to do 
honor to their benefactor. 

It was a family gathering, and the Twelve 
were also included in the invitation. 

Jesus occupied the seat of honor, and at 
one side of him was Simon, the host, and at 
the other reclined Lazarus. Martha, eager as 
ever to be hospitable, served her guests, with 
Mary as her helper. Was there ever a hap- 
pier home than this on that springtime even- 
ing, with the dearly loved boy, snatched from 
the gates of death, seated close to the Master ? 

But, as Mary stood at one side and watched 
the laughing company when her work was 
done, a deeper grief than any she had yet 
known blanched her face. 



196 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

Jesus had told her, as he had told the 
Twelve, that he was about to die, and that 
the time was near, even at this Passover. The 
others felt the danger, but they trusted their 
Master's power so much that they felt sure 
he was going to turn his hazard into a more 
startling triumph. 

But as she looked upon his tired yet tran- 
quil face, his faded, travel-worn garments, 
and his feet, hardened and sore with his long 
and loving pilgrimages, she realized that this 
man of sorrows was very near his death. 

She rushed to her own room in tears. As 
she dried her eyes and started to return, 
something she saw gave her a fresh thought. 
She had accidently laid her hand upon the 
little white jar of priceless spikenard that had 
been bought for her brother 's body. A sweet 
impulse seized her. 

She returned to the dining-room and knelt 
at Jesus ' feet, behind his couch, so softly that 
no one noticed her. 

But suddenly the rarest of perfumes filled 
the whole chamber. 

She was pouring the cruse of liquid gold 
over his hair and covering his hot feet with 
the cooling ointment. 

A look of glad pride was in the eyes of 
Martha and Lazarus when they knew of their 
sister's generous act. The disciples of Jesus 
were touched by the love to their leader thus 
displayed. John, especially, sat smiling, tho 



THREE WHOM JESUS LOVED 197 

tears ran down his cheeks like rain. And the 
face of Jesus shone with unaccustomed radi- 
ance. 

But it was not so with all. 

Judas, the fellow Judean of Martha and 
Mary, had no kinship of spirit with them. 
With a voice intended to be politely insolent 
he leaned across the table and snarled : 

^^Why has the perfume been wasted like 
this? It could have been sold for more than 
thirty pounds, and the money given to the 
poor.'' 

Meanness expressed always arouses more 
meanness, and instantly there was a murmur 
of voices that caught up the mock benevolence 
that concealed real avarice. 

Then Jesus said quietly but incisively to 
Judas, 

^^ Leave her in peace. Why do you grieve 
her thus to the heart? A deed bonny and 
sweet to my eyes is this that she has done for 
me. You always have the poor with you and 
whenever you like you can do good to them, 
but"— here he paused— ^^you will not always 
have me. She has done what she was able. 
She has come beforehand— thus to anoint my 
body for my burial. ' ' 

Then, laying his hand softly on her bowed 
head he said, 

^^And do you know that, wherever in the 
whole world the Good News is proclaimed, 



198 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

even this that she has done will be told in her 
memory. ' ' 

The joy— which the harsh words of Iscariot 
had interrupted— again flowed on. The even- 
ing closed with singing. The Twelve left the 
house, chanting one of the Passover Psalms, 
and Jesus stood in the doorway on the hill 
with the two sisters and Lazarus and watched 
his sturdy Twelve walk down the path in the 
soft paschal moonlight, until he could only 
barely hear the closing words of their hymn : 

' ^ Precious in the sight of the Lord 

Is the death of his faithful. 

41. ^ ^ 4£. ^ «U, ^ 

•TT •TT VV" "Tf" Tf" -7^ ^ 

I will pay my vows to the Lord 

In the midst of thee, Jerusalem.'' 



XIX 
THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 

A coMPAiTY of priests was standing in the 
priests' court of the temple on Sunday of the 
Passover. 

They were talking about Jesus. 

The marvelous deed at Bethany was al- 
ready known. Lazarus had already been 
visited and even threatened with death unless 
he should preserve silence. The incompre- 
hensible teacher had been heard of here and 
there near the city, but he had already been 
warned that the Sanhedrin would not endure 
any attempt by him to make a public appear- 
ance at Jerusalem. But with all this bravado 
there was considerable anxiety among the 
rulers. Too well they knew the power that 
Jesus had already won among the people, 
even at Jerusalem. The only question— the 
question of their own very safety— was, How 
would he use it? 

They said to each other, ^^What do you 
think? Is it possible that he will not come 
to the festival?" 

Even while they were talking, an unusual 
stir was heard in the outer court, and a throng 



V 

200 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

of people was seen pressing out of the East- 
ern, or Beautiful, Gate. 

They hastened to the stairway, and, climb- 
ing to the portico roof, they looked off across 
the valley. 

They saw a most remarkable sight. 

That morning early Jesus had come from 
Martha's home to the nearby camping-place 
of his friends, and had said quietly to John 
and James : 

' ' Go over to the village facing you and you 
will soon find an ass tied up there, with a foal 
by her side. Unfasten them and bring them 
to me. And if anybody says anything to you, 
you are to say, ^The Teacher requires them,' 
and he will send them at once. ' ' 

This command produced the greatest excite- 
ment among the Twelve. 

^^ Their leader was going to ride into his 
capital ! ' ' 

The word soon spread among the great 
company of Galileans, many of whom were 
still faithful to Jesus. Among them were his 
mother and his brothers, who were on their 
way to the festival. 

When Jesus finally left the home of Martha 
on foot he found the roadway lined with many 
familiar figures. As he mounted the ass, a 
graceful white animal, entirely unbroken, the 
enthusiasm grew, and their fear of the rulers 
was so' far forgotten that a number began to 
shout snatches of the Passover hymns. The 



THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 201 

excitement was so great that they did not 
stop to notice that he was not assuming the 
role of an invading conqueror. For, if he 
had wished to do that he would have chosen 
a war-horse, not a beast of peaceful burdens ; 
he would have dressed in armor and carried 
a sword. Instead, he wore his faded peasant's 
cloak, and his riding the ass implied not that 
he was an invader, but that he was a king 
already crowned, who was riding home to 
his capital in peace. 

As they went on over the top of the hill by 
the southern roadway, still out of sight of the 
city, the pilgrims camping on the mountains 
rushed up from before and on either side to 
meet the procession.* It was only when the 
whole company had rounded the hill and come 
out on a ledge of rock, that the city of David 
sprang into view,t and it was then that the 
curious priests on the temple portico saw the 
cause of all the tumult.$ 

They saw Jesus in the midst, distinguished 
by his white cloak and the white beast, paus- 
ing at this first view of the Holy City. Close 
to him stood his Twelve. All around was a 
great multitude, some of whom had snatched 
palm branches from the gardens on either 
side, others of whom, lacking any other trib- 
ute, had spread their cloaks in the road as a 
carpet before his progress. 

^^See!'' shouted one of the priests on the 

"^ See Note 31 . t See Note 30. $ See Note 32. 



202 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

portico roof to the rest, pointing with his 
arm to the mountain-side crowded with peo- 
ple. ^^Yon have made no headway. Look! 
The whole world has gone after him ! ' ' 

The meaning of the procession was as plain 
as words can speak. A Jewish king was com- 
ing again to his capital as if, without blood- 
shed, the days since David had been obliter- 
ated ! 

The captain of the temple-watch sounded 
the ^^ assembly '^ to his company, and the mea- 
ger city garrison in the fort close by was 
posted in readiness for an uprising from 
within, or a concerted attack from without 
the walls. 

Even among those who walked beside Jesus 
there were some of the Pharisees who fore- 
saw at once the peril of the situation. A sin- 
gle false step on Jesus ' part and there would 
be a massacre. 

Already the cries of the multitude, at first 
mere expressions of wishes of good-luck or 
hilarious shouts of ^^Hosanna!," had grown 
to one united and fearful roar. 

^^ Blessed is the One who is Coming— our 
King!'' and, 

^^God bless him! Blessed is the kingdom 
of our Father David ! ' ' the people were shout- 
ing. 

^ ' Teacher ! ' ' yelled the Pharisees in alarm, 
close to his ear. ^^Keep your followers still! 
There will be murder ! ' ' 



THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 203 

But Jesus knew that when the mob better 
understood his purpose, there would be no 
bloodshed. 

Already his face had taken on a deeper sad- 
ness. As they rounded the mountain, and 
saw the gray city rising out of the deep chasm 
beneath them, surrounded by its ring of iron 
hills, the whole assembly was struck dumb by 
the sublimity of the scene. There, terrace on 
terrace, within the ancient walls of stone, 
climbed houses, palaces, fortresses and public 
buildings, while in front of all, the gem of 
which the rest was but the setting, shone the 
Holy House, beneath the splendor of the noon- 
day sun, a mass of snow and gold. 

And now, they thought, all this was to be 
snatched from Eome by one blow, and, ac- 
cording to the psalms of old, through those 
^^everlasting doors" of stone ''the King of 
Glory'' was to enter in. 

With one accord the great assembly on the 
hillslope looked toward their king and await- 
ed his action. Would he raise his hand now , 
and cause the walls to crumble that he might 
ride over them, or would he rather, as many 
of them expected, suddenly expand the Holy 
City by a miracle until it should cover all 
Judea? 

There was not even upon his face a look of 
jubilation. 

Instead, his head was bowed in his hands. 

They were not womanish tears of weakness ; 



204 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

he was wailing aloud, as men in those days 
wailed for the dead. And amid his cries they 
heard him prophesying— what took place in 
the lifetime of many of them— the awfnl de- 
struction and slaughter of the city by the 
Eomans. 

It was an angry, a completely disappointed 
company that trooped down the hill. When 
Jesus dismounted at the spot where beasts 
of burden were denied admission to the city, 
all the crowd but the Galileans had deserted 
him. And when the alert and alarmed Roman 
captain with the anxious priests by his side 
leaned over the portico by the city gate and 
asked who this was under escort, even they 
forgot all about their tributes to his royalty 
and faltered out tamely, ^^It is the prophet- 
Jesus— from Nazareth— in Galilee." 

This was, on the whole, the bravest deed in 
Jesus' life. It was needful to do just what 
he did. In some way he must enter the Holy 
City. He claimed to be king of the kingdom 
of God, the kingdom which all his people ex- 
pected and which none of them understood. 
Should he go in alone ? That would deny his 
kingship. Should he lead in an army? That 
would prove him a traitor to the real kingdom 
of heaven. The only other way was to claim 
the kingship and claim it for just what it was, 
the kingdom of peace and love and sacrifice, 
and let the world think of him the worst it 
chose. 



THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 205 

He made his claim, and he never feared 
the consequences. Whether he should fail 
never troubled Jesns, but only whether he 
should do his work well. 

That night the Twelve were utterly dis- 
heartened. They had secured arms, begun 
the organization of companies and sounded 
the people as to their readiness for a patriotic 
uprising. And now their Master had made 
all this work of no account. The priests and 
Pharisees were jubilant. Jesus had lost the 
confidence of the multitude. The populace 
did not wish him to come to any harm, but if 
he could be detached from his faithful Twelve 
and hurried to trial and sentence, the rulers 
could put him out of the way before the multi- 
tude had time to interfere. 

That very night the way to do this began 
to open. Judas Iscariot, who had com^e to 
Jesus chiefly because he believed that Jesus 
was going to bring in Israel's restoration to 
power, was so chagrined at the events of this 
day, so angry at Jesus for what he thought 
was a betrayal of his own sacrifices in giving 
up his life to become a companion of those 
rough Galileans, so disappointed to find that 
he was never to cut any figure in the world, 
that he determined to have revenge. 

The Twelve had already begun to distrust 
him, because of his petty dishonesty with their 
common purse. Any possible influence as 
their leader and spokesman had been crushed 



206 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

by Jesus' knowledge and rebuke of him at 
Bethany. 

A snake, when it is approached by one it 
fears, strikes, blindly and fiercely, and Judas, 
into whom the serpent spirit had entered, 
waited now in the company of Jesus only for 
one opportunity to strike him down. 



IN THE DEN OF THE WOLVES 

If ever a general had a reason for a re- 
treat, Jesus had now. 

He had witnessed for his kingdom, and 
thousands had seen and heard him. Now he 
might retire and wait for his nation to ap- 
preciate the noble faith he stood for. 

Or he could meantime go to other lands. 
That very day a company of Greeks had 
come to him in the temple to entreat him to 
visit their country. Once more the gleam of 
victory among other peoples shone before 
him. 

^^No," he replied. ^^The time is come for 
me to enter on my glory. Those who love 
their own lives, lose them. Yet I am indeed 
perplexed. . . . What shall I say? ^My 
Father, bring me safe out of this hour of 
trial?' No, for it was for this very thing 
that I came to this time. I must say : ' Father, 
honor thine own name. ' ' ' 

He would not flee, he might not even teach 
elsewhere, he must not give up his task. Here 
he must honor God, even if it cost him his all. 

The next morning he walked directly into 



208 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST "^ 

the temple andj coming into the Foreign 
Court, saw again the crowd of hucksters buy- 
ing and selling in the open court. Again he 
burst upon them and drove them, dumb- 
founded, from the gates, and as he returned 
with flashing eyes, into the Jewish Court, to 
say his prayers, a troop of choir boys, who 
were just coming from the service of morn- 
ing prayer and who had seen his noble act, 
met him and hailed him with cheers. 

^^Hail to the Son of David!" 

At the same moment several of the priests 
rushed out from their inner court to hush 
them, and angrily said to Jesus, 

^^ Don't you hear what these boys are say- 
ing?" 

^^Yes," said Jesus boldly, shielding the 
frightened lads with his arm, ^^and did you 
never read in the old song these words, 
^Out of babes' and sucklings' mouths 
Thou hast produced Thy perfect praise?' " 

The next day, Tuesday, he was again early 
in the temple, which was now so full of his 
open enemies, planning his death, that it was 
a very den of wolves. 

Wliile they were awaiting the right chance 
to spring upon him, they determined to un- 
dermine him still further with the people by 
outwitting him before them all. 

Out to the pleasant grassy terrace where he 
loved to walk and where there was always a 



IN THE DEN OF THE WOLVES 209 

company of pilgrims, they sent their keenest 
and most skilful debaters. 

One after another they came at him with 
sudden questions, which they were sure would 
cause the simple, uneducated Galilean to show 
either his ignorance or his helplessness. 

The Pharisees sent their committee. They 
chose the most honest as well as the most 
brilliant teacher of the law they could find, to 
examine Jesus. 

^^ Teacher," said he, ^^ which is the great 
command of the Law?" 

This was not a quibble. It was a test as 
to whether he knew his Old Testament. 

When Jesus answered, he summed up in 
two sentences all the laws of his kingdom. 

Jesus said to him, "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God tvith thy whole hearty and ivith 
thy whole soul, and ivith thy whole mind. 
This is the great and first command. And a 
second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. On these two commands 
hang the whole law, and the prophets. ' ' 

Even the scribe who asked the question was 
carried beyond himself by such a magnificent 
reply. 

'^Well said, sir!" he exclaimed. '^To do 
as you have spoken is indeed far beyond all 
burnt offerings and sacrifices. ' ' 

Jesus was not accustomed to praise, espe- 
cially from such a source. But he answered 
courteously and heartily, 



210 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST "" 

^^Sir, you are not far from God's king- 
dom. ' ' 

But the Pharisees wished their representa- 
tive had asked something else. 

Then came to meet him the high priest, sur- 
rounded by a retinue of the Sanhedrin and 
the priests. 

The people made respectful obeisance as 
this honorable procession of the gentry filed 
out. They seated themselves on the terrace. 

Caiaphas summoned Jesus to stand before 
him, as if he were a culprit. 

But he did not look like one, and he was 
not frightened. 

The unlearned teacher from Galilee stood 
in his country dress before the shrewd and 
accomplished prelate, his white silk robe 
sparkling with the jewels of his office. 

^^What right have you," Caiaphas said 
sternly, ^'to act as you do? Who gave you 
this right?" 

The religious leaders claimed that nobody 
had any right to teach religion without a li- 
cense from themselves. 

But had God never sent any teachers ex- 
cept the ones they had authorized? 

^^Sir," said Jesus quietly. ^^I also have a 
question to ask you. If you tell me, then I 
will answer you. It is about John's baptism. 
Was it from God or from man? Answer me 
that." 

John had certainly been a staunch witness 



IN THE DEN OF THE WOLVES 211 

to Jesus ' authority, and John had never both- 
ered to get a license for what he should say. 

The question itself, indeed, was like a thun- 
derclap. Instantly the priests began jabber- 
ing around Caiaphas. 

^^Why, sir," they said, ''ii we say ^from 
God,' then he will say, ^Then why didn't you 
believe in him T " 

^^Yes," said others, ^^and if we say ^from 
man,'— look at the people! They believe 
John was a prophet. ' ' 

Jesus stood quietly smiling. 

Pretty soon two of the doctors, in a very 
shamefaced way, stammered out. 

^^We— we don't know." 

^^I, too," said Jesus, '^refuse to answer 
you. ' ' 

After they had all hastily slipped away, a 
group of Herodians, Jews who were toadies 
at the Roman court, came out here, where the 
onlookers by this time were awaiting with in- 
terest the sword-play of this keen and uneven 
duel. 

^^ Teacher," they said, pretending that they 
were well-meaning citizens in perplexity, ^^we 
know that you are a true and loyal man, and 
that you honestly teach God's word and are 
not afraid of anybody. So, tell us your opin- 
ion. Is it well to pay taxes to the emperor or 
not? Shall we give or shall we refuse?" 

They said to each other, ^^Now we've got 
him! If he says ^No,' we'll arrest him for 



312 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

treason. If lie says^ ^Yes,' our patriotic com- 
mon people will desert liim. ' ' 

He saw through their shrewdness. ^^You 
hypocrites!'' he retorted bluntly. ^^Why do 
you ask such a question?" 

He had no money, so he added, ' ' Show me 
the coin with which this tax is paid. ' ' 

He held up the silver shilling with the por- 
trait side toward them. 

^^ Whose head and title are these?'' 

^^The emperor's." 

The very fact that they used the emperor's 
coins showed that they owed something to his 
protection. 

^^Then what belongs to the emperor pay to 
the emperor— and pay God what belongs to 
God." 

After that nobody cared to ask any more 
questions. 

Those who were called the wisest, the 
wealthiest, the most religious people of the 
nation, had tried to trip up Jesus, and he had 
completely muzzled every one of them. 

Then Jesus turned to the people who had 
been listening and said, 

^^ These teachers and Pharisees have sat 
down in the chair of Moses. All things, there- 
fore, they bid you do, practise and lay to 
heart. But don't you follow their example^^ 
for they preach but they don't practise." 

He turned back to the Pharisees and thus 
fiercely addressed them : 



IN THE DEN OF THE WOLVES 213 

' ' Woe for you ! Eabbis and Pharisees, you 
hypocrites ! You shut the kingdom of heaven 
in men's faces. You neither go in yourselves 
nor do you let those who would go in do so. 
You are like tombs that have been white- 
washed and look lovely outside, while inside 
they are filled with dead men's bones and 
filth. Oh, you hypocrites ! You build tombs 
for the Prophets— and you are truly the chil- 
dren of those who murdered the Prophets. 
God sends you Prophets, wise men and rabbis. 
Some of them you will kill and crucify, and 
some you will flog in your meeting-houses and 
pursue from town to town. Ah ! Fill up the 
measure of your forefather 's guilt ! How can 
you ever escape being sentenced to the Pit ? ' ' 

Were not these fearless words ! The Phari- 
sees slunk away utterly overcome, for they 
were every one true. And the people, seeing 
the victory of Jesus, surrounded him with 
congratulations. There were just a few even 
of the Pharisees, like this honest doctor who 
had last questioned him, who were convinced 
that Jesus was right, and that, tho he stood 
alone, he stood for the purity and goodness 
of the nation. But they saw that the forces 
that were against him were so strong and so 
hateful that they did not dare to defend him. 

Jesus rose now to leave the terrace and 
the temple for the last time. He had said the 
whole truth, and his foes would never let him 
speak in those courts again. 



214 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

His victory over tlieir shrewd meanness 
had not made him happy, for it only showed 
how wicked man could be. But one little 
event occurred on the way out that so pleased 
him as to make up for all the bitterness of 
that day of battles. 

He sat down for a moment opposite the 
chests where voluntary offerings were 
dropped by the people. 

Pompous Pharisees sent their golden coins 
rattling loudly down into the boxes, and rich 
Herodians took the opportunity, when many 
pilgrims were passing, to toss in bags of 
money. 

Just then a widow came by and quietly 
dropped in two ' ' farthings ' ' ( about one-sixth 
of a cent) . 

Jesus said to Peter and John, as she walked 
away, 

' ' There ! this poor widow has put in more 
than all the rest. For the others put in some- 
thing of what they had to spare, but she has 
put in all she had to live on. ' ' 

As the Twelve climbed the hill at sunset, 
they turned and looked once more at their 
temple, whose walls now shone like amethyst 
in the evening light. 

^^What fine stones! What splendid build- 
ings ! ' ' they exclaimed with admiration. 

Then he sat down beside them and told 
them what was to come. 

''That temple will be burned. That glori- 



IN THE DEN OF THE WOLVES 215 

ous capital city will be thrown down. Yon 
yourselves will be driven, scattered, into 
every land, and even there suffering and bit- 
ter death will await yon. ' ' 

What a prospect of defeat ! 

But listen to the undaunted Nazarene. 
Sacred buildings might be destroyed, but, as 
he had told the Samaria woman, the true tem- 
ple of God is man, and man, even without 
sacred buildings, can worship God. And man 
shall not perish. 

^^By and by," he said, ^^I, the Son of man, 
will come in glory and take my seat on my 
throne, and all the nations will be gathered 
before me, and I shall separate men like a 
shepherd, when he divides his sheep from 
goats." 

^^Then," he told them, ^^the faithful will 
be told that they shall now enter into posses- 
sion of their eternal kingdom, because they 
have fed and clothed and visited and com- 
forted their King, on earth. But these will 
answer in surprise, ^We do not know that we 
have ever done any such things.' 

^^Then the King will answer, ^Just so far 
as you did so to men, my brothers, however 
lowly, you did it to Me. ' ' ' 

It was dark when they went over the hill- 
top. The stars were just peeping out. They 
did not understand at all what their Lord 
meant, but when, in the after years, the trials 
all came true as he had said, they remem- 



216 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST "^ 

bered, and, because he had laid down his life 
for them, they believed in him and his prom- 
ise, they fought the Good Fight, they finished 
their course, they kept the Faith. And the 
whole world bows to-day in homage before 
those unconquerable heroes, the Apostles of 
the King, 



XXI 
A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 

Wed]n^esday was a busy day for Judas. 

Jesus did not go to Jerusalem at all. He 
took much rest in sleep, he sat quietly on the 
housetop or walked alone in the garden and 
the fields, and when evening came he talked 
cheerfully with his friends of Bethany and 
with the Twelve. 

He was gathering his strength for the last 
battle. 

But Judas had slipped away into the city 
in the morning and hurried stealthily to the 
temple. In a small chamber there the high 
priest and his father-in-law and a few Phari- 
sees and doctors were sitting in informal 
council. 

Hanan was saying for the fiftieth time, ' ' If 
we can only get him suddenly, away from his 
Twelve, we will destroy him. ' ' 

But Caiaphas said, ^^We had better not try 
it at the festival, or there will be a riot among 
the people. ' ' 

Hanan, however, urged that if it could be 
accomplished then, his death would make all 
the deeper impression. 



218 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST "" 

At this very moment a servant entered and 
announced that a man was at the door who 
desired to confer with them. 

' ' Show him in, ' ' said Caiaphas after a mo- 
ment 's hesitation. ^'If he knows nothing of 
this, remember, we are met on public busi- 
ness. But it may be that he brings us in- 
formation bearing on this very matter." 

It was Judas. 

As soon as the conspirators looked at him 
they were amazed, because they recognized 
him as one of the most prominent of the 
Twelve. 

Did he come with a message of conciliation 
from his Master ? 

Alas ! no. He was now fully set on revenge. 
Jesus' defiance of the priests, the Pharisees 
and the Herodians on yesterday had caused 
him to see, what the rest of the .Twelve, who 
were less acute, would not see, that Jesus 
must die. 

Judas was confident that he had been be- 
trayed by a deceiver. He would make peace 
with the slayers of Jesus and thus secure his 
own safety. He would show this Galilean who 
had defrauded him of a chance to make his 
life of some consequence that it was of enough 
consequence to be that Galilean's ruin. 

The fever had so burned his soul that he 
was as one possessed. 

It took but a few sentences from him for 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 219 

all present to see that the easy tool to their 
opportunity was in their hands. 

Jesns would soon return to the city. Judas 
could find out his movements in advance, he 
would inform them at once, they would arrest 
him quietly, and before the people had a 
chance to shout rescue for their persecuted 
deliverer they could be persuaded that he was 
only a condemned criminal, an enemy to the 
nation. 

When it came to settling the price of the 
bargain, all in the room saw that they were 
dealing with a madman. 

^^The price of a slave! The price of a 
slave ! " he kept crying in a querulous mono- 
tone. 

And, as if he were a child to be petted and 
pleased, they weighed out to him at once the 
few pitiful coins, only about twenty-three dol- 
lars, which he hastily dropped into his bag, 
and then hurried furtively away. 

The next morning, Thursday, the Twelve 
called early at Martha's door and asked 
Jesus, who was seated in the garden with Eis 
friends, if he had yet planned for the Pass- 
over celebration. 

He called Peter and John to one side. 

^^You go into the city and make ready for 
us all," he said. 

^^ Where shall we go?" asked Peter, who 
was surprised that Jesus should venture to 



220 THE BOYS^ LIFE, OF CHRIST ^ 

expose himself in the capital again at the 
very height of the feast. 

Foreseeing what was to come, Jesus had 
already planned to celebrate the festival a 
day in advance, and had arranged a signal 
with a friend named Mary, who lived there, 
so that he might use her upper chamber with 
no danger to herself from those who might 
be seeking to arrest him. 

' ' You go into the city, ' ' he said, and he in- 
dicated the street, ' ' and there a man carrying 
a water- jar will meet you. Follow him. 
Wherever he goes in, you say to the owner 
of the house^ ^The Teacher says: ^^My time 
is coming. Where is the room for me to eat 
the Passover with my friends?'' ' He will 
himself show you a large upstairs-room all 
ready, and that is where you are to make 
preparations for us." 

Judas, who had resumed his outward calm- 
ness, insisted, as treasurer, on accompanying 
them, and so the three went away into town. 

Judas Iscariot bought the Passover lamb 
and killed it, and after they had made the 
proper offerings at the temple the three went 
to the house, where the upper room was, to 
roast it. 

The young man carrying the water- jar as 
a signal was easily found. He led them to 
the outside stairway and showed them the 
room. It had been conveniently fitted up with 
a low table in the center and three long 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 221 

couches arranged in horse-shoe shape around 
it. Upon the table they arranged the lamb^ 
the bitter herbs, the unleavened cakes and 
several cups of wine: 

When night came they all, dressed in their 
humble best, went quietly over the hill to- 
gether. Jesus, who knew that he would not 
return, lingered to say a word of loving fare- 
well to each of the staunch friends of Bethany. 
Bethany was home to Jesus. From his home 
he went out to die. It was at Bethany, aftef' 
the trials all were over, that he was last seen 
by men. 

The young man who had showed the ar- 
ranged signal in the morning, Mary's son, 
John Mark, met them at the corner and 
watched at the foot of the outer stairway un- 
til he was certain that the little company 
above had not been followed. 

Two of the Twelve, at the suggestion of 
Peter, had provided themselves with swords, 
so that, in case they were attacked at the 
supper, they might defend themselves. 

It was some sad premonition rather than 
any reason that caused them to do this, for 
the Passover, which was the Jewish New 
Year, was supposed to be the time when all 
malice and revenge were cleansed away from 
men's hearts as was the old leaven of the old 
year from their houses. 

But that was not the case, even among the 
Twelve. 



222 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

All the way into town the conversation 
among their different groups had been as to 
the way in which the kingdom wonld be pro- 
claimed. For^ while no one was so stupid as 
not to see the grave danger into which Jesus 
had came from having stirred up the enmity 
of the rulers, it was now the very end of the 
festival, which Jesus had plainly taught was 
to be the great one of his life. They had 
never listened when he had tried to tell them 
that it was at this time he would die for men. 
The glamour of Sunday's crowd was still in 
their eyes, and they argued that he who had 
fed the multitude and raised the dead could 
at any time at a single word become master 
of Jerusalem. 

This discussion naturally led to excited talk, 
and heart-burnings about the relative rank 
which each would have in the new dynasty. 

Simon Peter was favored by the majority 
as vice-regent because of his ability, which 
had been so generally acknowledged among 
them that he had usually been their spokes- 
man. 

But James and John stood by each other as 
brothers. ' ' We, ' ' said they, ' ' have been even 
closer to Jesus. We ought to share the of- 
fice between us. ' ' 

According to their law any company of 
friends might buy a lamb between them for 
this festival. In such a case they constituted 
for that occasion one family. It was as a 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 223 

family of brothers, then, with Jesiis as their 
father, or head, that they had now come to- 
gether. Twenty-one short, busy, happy years 
had passed since as a boy in his own family 
he had first eaten the Passover. 

But when the Twelve entered the room they 
were so excited with their dreams of a king- 
dom that they forgot, and, as if this modest 
chamber were a royal banquet room, they be- 
gan at once to claim the seats of honor. 

Jesus, of course, was offered the head of 
the table, which was the central place on the 
left wing, then John crowded in ahead of him, 
and Judas Iscariot displaced James behind 
him, while Simon Peter, who was of too big 
a mind to engage in this petty fracas, quietly 
went across and sat at the foot of the oppo- 
site table. 

The Paschal supper opens with the blessing 
of a cup of wine, which is handed around to 
all. Then the head of the family rises and 
washes his hands. 

After Jesus had washed, at the side of the 
room, they were surprised to see him return, 
in the garb of a slave. His cloak was re- 
moved, a towel was bound around his waist 
and he bore a basin of water in his hands. 

Amidst perfect silence he came to John, 
and, kneeling on the floor behind him, he 
washed and wiped his feet. It was the cus- 
tomary service rendered to guests at a din- 
ner, but they could not afford a servant, and 



224 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

they were too proud to do any such meal 
act for each other. 

This he did for Jolm, then for Judas, t -q 
for James, and so for all the rest. 

The Twelve grew more uneasy as the L '\ 
went patiently around, fetching and carry:' ^ 
water, and kneeling beside each one. TL,- 
felt as if they were young children being ten- 
ed by their father. 

When he had nearly finished he came [q 
Peter, who was bursting with indignation. 

^^You? Master! Were you going to wasli 
my feet ? ' ' he exclaimed. 

^^You may not understand now what I am 
doing," Jesus answered, ^^but you will learn 
by and by. ' ' 

' ' Never ! ' ' cried Peter. 

^^But unless I wash you," replied Jesus, 
^^you have nothing in common with me." 

^^Then, Master, not my feet only, but my 
hands and my head, too!" exclaimed Peter 
in earnest affection. 

When he had put his cloak on and reclined 
again at the table he spoke to them again. 

^^ Don't you understand yet what I have 
been doing? I have given you an example, 
so that hereafter you may do as I have done 
to you. The kings of the Greeks and the Eo- 
mans are accustomed to lord it over them. 
But it is not to be so with you. On the con- 
trary, those who are greatest among you must 




From the painting by Ford Madox Brown 
CHRIST WASHING PETER'S FEET 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 225 

become like the youngest, and the Chief is he 
who serves. 

^^You are the men who have stood by me 
in my trials. Just as surely as the Father has 
granted me a Kingdom, shall I assign you 
places of power. 

^^Yet this very night they will strike down 
your Shepherd and all his Sheep will be scat- 
tered. 

^^ Simon! Simon! listen. The Tempter de- 
manded leave to sift you like wheat. But I 
prayed for you, Simon, that your faith should 
never fail. And I look to you, when you have 
returned to me, to strengthen your Brothers. ' ' 

Simon Peter sprang to his feet. 

^^ Master!" he exclaimed. ^^If every one 
else falls away from you, I never will. With 
you I am ready to go to the dungeon, yes, and 
to death, too.'' 

The rest, too, excitedly raised their hands 
and swore an oath of unbroken allegiance. 

^^And yet, Peter," said Jesus sadly, ^^the 
cock will not crow to-morrow morning till you 
have three times disowned me. ' ' 

Then, realizing that the fatal blow would 
be struck that very night and anxious for 
their own safety, he inquired anxiously if any 
of them were armed. He was relieved to 
learn that they were thus prepared. 

It was but a few moments after Jesus had 
made his astonishing prophecy of Peter's im- 



226 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

pending weakness that lie made another sad 
forecast. 

As they were eating, each reaching across 
the table in his turn, Jesus said, 

'^Look! The hand of the man that is be- 
traying me is here beside me on the table ! ' ' 

There was an incredulous cry. Every hand 
was snatched away. What! His own table- 
comrade? His guest? Each man looked at 
his neighbor with terror and thought of his 
own weaknesses with fear. 

^ ^ It is not I, is it. Master ? ' ' they each asked 
in grief. 

^^It is one of you Twelve," said Jesus. 

Then, even Judas, with affected anxiety, 
said, over Jesus' shoulder, 

''It is not I, is it. Master?" 

And Jesus whispered back, to show that he 
knew his treachery, ''It is— even as you have 
said. ' ' 

Then Peter, eager to crush the traitor and 
prevent his plot, beckoned earnestly to John 
who faced him, leaning against Jesus ' breast, 
to try to find out which one it was. 

He leaned back on Jesus' shoulder and 
whispered, 

"Who is it. Master?" 

Jesus in a low voice said, "It is the one to 
whom I shall give this piece of bread after 
dipping it. ' ' 

The action was not an unusual one. The 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 227 

father of the family at this time would dip a 
piece of bread with a bit of the lamb in the 
bitter herbs and hand it to his oldest son. 

Jesus gave the morsel to Judas, whisper- 
ing, 

^^ Whatever you are going to do, make haste 
with it." 

The frightened traitor slunk from the 
room, before Simon Peter had grasped the 
meaning of what Jesus had just been doing. 
The rest thought that he had been asked by 
Jesus to go on some errand of mercy. 

Outside, the sky was completely overcast, 
and it was through utter blackness that the 
traitor, his life saved by Jesus, and he him- 
self expelled gently but firmly from the 
Twelve, rushed with rage through the city to 
the temple. 

There he met Hanan, who, on the ground 
that he had gotten track of a dangerous revo- 
lutionist, had secured from Pilate, the gov- 
ernor, the promise of a cohort of soldiers. 
To these Hanan added a company of the tem- 
ple police. 

Judas, who had learned that Jesus planned 
to take the usual route back to Bethany, spent 
the evening in disposing various squads of 
men at convenient points along the southern 
route from the city. 

After Judas had gone out, and the Pass- 
over meal was over, Jesus leaned across the 



328 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST "" 

table and took some of the unleavened flat 
cakes and an nntouclied cnp of wine. 

They all looked toward him with anticipa- 
tion. 

He blessed God, broke the bread in pieces, 
and gave it to them, saying as he came to 
each, 

^^Take it and eat it. This is my body." 

Then he took the wine cup and, continuing 
in prayer, he carried it to each one. 

^^This,'' he said, "is my Covenant-blood.'^ 

And when they had all eaten and drunk he 
said simply, 

' ' Continue to do this for a remembrance of 
me." 

It was the only time he ever expressed any 
anxiety lest he should be forgotten. As we 
have seen, he left no temple, book or organiza- 
tion. But temples, libraries and kingdoms 
since that time have perished and been for- 
gotten, while that simple supper has survived 
as his eternal memorial. For, ever since that 
night, those who are of the family of Jesus 
have kept the custom, as he wished, and this 
household feast in honor of his life and death 
is still called: The Lord's Supper. 

Before they left the room he told them 
again plainly about his death, using that term 
of special tenderness which had become of 
late his habit. 

^^My children," he said, ^^I am going to be 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 229 

with you only a little while longer. You will 
look for me, but you can not come where I 
am going. Love each other ! Love each other 
just as I have loved you. It is by this that 
any one will know that you belong to me— by 
the love you bear each other. ' ' 

*^ Where are you going, Master?'' anxious- 
ly cried Peter. 

^^ Where you can not follow now. But later 
you shall follow me. ' ' 

^^Why can not I follow you now, Master? 
I will lay down my life for you. ' ' 

Then Jesus turned to the others and, as 
he saw their utter grief, he spoke those words 
that the whole world holds dear. 

Have you ever been afraid to die? You 
need not be ashamed to confess it. Others, 
braver than you, have shuddered to think of 
the last hour. These Twelve were now look- 
ing over the brink of death. Jesus was to 
go over and out of sight. They would be 
alone. Then soon they, too, must go, and 
never return. 

How would Jesus reassure them? 

^'Do not be broken-hearted. Trust in God. 
Trust in me, too." Now hear the Teacher 
speaking as a carpenter: ^^ There are many 
resting places in my Father's House. I 
should have told you, had it not been so. I 
am going there to fit up a home for you. And 
if I do go and prepare it, I shall come back 



230 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST ^ 

again, and I will take yon with me, so that 
yon may be where I am. 

^^Now I am going to beqneath yon some- 
thing. It is called— Eest of Heart. I give it 
to yon. I do not give to yon as the world 
gives. In the world yon will find tronble. 
Bnt take conrage— I have wrestled with the 
world, and I have conquered! 

^^Come, let ns be going." 

It was midnight when they left the npper 
room. 

Yonng Mark, who had been sleeping be- 
low, awoke as he heard them on the stairs, 
and, still anxions for the Master's safety, he 
canght np the linen bed coverlet, threw it over 
his tnnic as a shawl and followed after. Had 
he not done so, the events of the next honr 
wonld not be known to ns. 

As they walked down into the Kedron val- 
ley, Jesns, seeing that they were still over- 
whelmed with grief, began one of the Pass- 
over hymns, and the rest, with faltering notes, 
at length joined in. 

The woods were, as eJesns knew, fnll of sol- 
diers. Jndas was Inrking near to ponnce 
npon him. Was there ever a braver honr 
than when, as the great Shepherd led his 
sheep throngh the valley of the Shadow, he 
flnng that song in the very face of death! 

As they came to the last ominons words 
of the anthem: 



A FEAST FOR REMEMBRANCE 231 

^^Bind the Sacrifice with ropes, 
Even to the horns of the altar, ' ' 
Jesns turned aside into an olive orchard,^ 
which they had often visited, as their camp- 
ing place for the night. 

* See Note 33. 



XXII 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE OLIVE 
ORCHARD 

Listen to John Mark's story. 

^^The Twelve were quite exhausted with 
the day's excitement, and hardly .had they 
reached the orchard before most of them were 
wrapped up, on the grass, asleep. 

^^But Jesus had already asked John and 
Peter and James to keep awake and stay near 
him. 

^' ^I am sad at heart,' I heard him say 
tenderly, ' sad even to death. Keep near and 
watch with me. ' 

^'The clouds were now gone, and the full 
moon in all its glory shone down on the silver 
leaves of the olives. 

^^ Jesus withdrew still farther into the 
shadow and threw himself on the ground in 
prayer. Even the chosen three could not 
withstand their drowsiness, and in a few mo- 
ments they, too, had reclined against the trees, 
and they fell asleep. 

^^ Seeing the Master lying still so long a 
time, I feared that he was in a faint and, steal- 
ing by a side path, I crept close enough to him 
to hear his voice. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ORCHARD 233 

^^He was in terrible pain of heart. All the 
evening he had thoughtfully concealed his 
own grief from any of us. But he loved these 
men so much, tho they were so weak, and he 
was distressed to leave them. Still it was 
more than earthly partings that caused his 
agony. 

''It was not the fear to die. 

^^Whalj he feared was not death on the 
cross, but that he might die before he reached 
the cross ; that he might fail just at the very 
last in his witness for the Father to men. 

" ^Father,' I heard him whisper, 4f it is 
Thy pleasure, put this cup from me. ' But in- 
stantly I overheard him add quietly, ^Only, 
not my will be done— but Thine.' 

^^Time and again he came back to where 
the three were, in unbearable need for their 
loving sympathy, and every time he found 
them asleep for weariness and grief. He 
looked upon them with pity— and said softly, 
^How soundly you sleep! Oh, rise, and be 
at prayer, that you enter not into temptation. ' 

^^As he knelt again, I saw the sweat drop 
from his anguished face, and it was red with 
blood. 

^^But at length he won the victory. He 
quietly repeated the prayer that begins, ' Our 
Father which art in heaven,' and returned 
with calm face through the moonlight. Never 
from that hour through all the last dreadful 
day was his composure shaken. 



234 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST !^ 

' ' There was already the rustle of approach- 
ing feet, which marked time as if they were 
keeping step. 

' ' ' Get up now, ' he said, hurriedly awaking 
each one of the Twelve. 'We must be going. 
Listen ! Look ! my betrayer is close at hand. ' 

^^ Judas had tracked Jesns to his favorite 
resting place, had gathered the scattered 
squads from the hill, and was marching upon 
them with several hundred men, all armed, 
and carrying torches and lanterns. 

^^To cover the escape of his friends, Jesus 
hastened out to the entrance of the garden. 

^^Here he met Judas, who had eagerly 
pressed ahead. 

^^None of the soldiers knew Jesus, so the 
traitor had given them a sign. 

a ^The man that I kiss will be the one,' he 
had said. 'Take him prisoner.' 

"So he went up to Jesus at once and ex- 
claimed, 'Eabbi! I am glad to see you,' and 
kissed him again and again, as if with eager 
affection. 

" 'Friend!' said Jesus, amazed at the 
meanness to which the traitor could go, 'is it 
with a kiss that you would betray me ! ' 

"Peter was the only one who made any 
defense. Indeed, they were overwhelmed by 
numbers. Several of them hardly escaped. 
I myself was easily found by means of the 
white coverlet, and it was only by leaving it 
in my pursuer 's hands that I got free. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ORCHARD 235 

^ ^ Seeing that by parleying with the soldiers 
he might be able to rescue all the Twelve, 
Jesus turned to the captain of the guard and 
said, ^Wlio is it that you are looking for?' 

^^ ^ Jesus of Nazareth/ he replied. 

^^ ^I am he/ said Jesus. 

^^The soldiers eagerly raised their torches 
so that they threw a bright light upon the face 
of Jesus. 

^^ A look of awful power flashed from Jesus' 
countenance. 

^^The soldiers, who had expected to see a 
frightened peasant, skulking among the trees, 
gave one glance at this gigantic and splendid 
figure and started backward. 

^^If a king might be known by his appear- 
ance, it was a king whom they were arresting. 

^^ ^I am Jesus of Nazareth,' he said again. 
^If you are looking for me, let these others 
go.' 

' ^ Satisfied that all of his fold were safe, the 
Shepherd submitted. 

^^And they loaded him with chains and 
brought him back to the city." 



XXIII 
THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 

It was to Hanan's house that Jesus was led. 
He, more than his weaker son-in-law, the real 
high priest, had secured Jesus ' capture. 

John, who, as we know, owned a house at 
Jerusalem and who had some influence there, 
secured entrance for himself and Peter, and 
they heard the private examination of Jesus. 

The serving-woman at the door noticed 
Peter's country brogue and said, 

^^Why, you are one of the man's followers y 
aren't you?" 

Peter looked around in alarm and, before 
he thought, answered sharply, 

''No, I am not." 

Then, lest he should be questioned further, 
he stepped out into the courtyard and joined 
the soldiers who were warming themselves in 
front of a bonfire. 

While this private examination was going 
on, messengers, sent hurriedly here and there, 
gathered a dishevelled minority of the Sanhe- 
drin, and by two o'clock at night Jesus had 
been led, still shackled, across the courtyard 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 237 

to Caiaphas ' official residence, and the illegal 
Jewish trial had begun. 

They had succeeded in their first plot : they 
had Jesus captive before the people were 
aware. The second plan was, to get him sen- 
tenced to death before the people found it out. 

But was this easy to do 1 

Many witnesses had been held in readiness, 
who were now put forward against him, tell- 
ing a confused story about a threat that Jesus 
had once made to destroy the temple, but their 
testimony was so trivial and contradictory 
that it was ridiculous. Nobody, it is true, not 
even his comrade John, said anything in his 
behalf, and the friendly councillor, Nicode- 
mus, had not been notified of the meeting. 

Finally, Caiaphas in despair tries his last 
move. He knows what Jesus claims to be. 
Probably he will deny it now that all other 
evidence has fallen through, but if he should 
confess it— ah! there is a chance. 

The high priest stood up. 

^^Have you no answer?" he said sternly. 
^^What have you to say to the evidence that 
these men are laying up against youl" 

Jesus made no reply, as he had made none 
before to the helpless statements of the hired 
perjurers. 

The high priest then continued: ^^Eaise 
your right hand. Upon your oath now and 
in the presence of the Living God, tell us the 



338 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

truth: Are you the Christ, the Son of the 
Blessed r' 

Jesus might have denied, on the ground 
that these unbelievers had no business to hear 
the truth. He might have continued silent. 
Either course would have saved his life. 

But he would not deny his mission, even to 
his murderers. 

^^I am!" he cried with hand upraised to 
heaven. ^^And ere long you will see the Son 
of man seated on the right hand of the Al- 
mighty. ' ' 

^^What profanity! "What need we any 
more testimony!" cried the high priest in 
glee, and he tore his cloak in two, as if to 
show how horrified he felt at this monstrous 
statement. 

^^You heard his wicked words?" he shout- 
ed. ^^What is your verdict?" 

^^He deserves to die," they all yelled. 

The Sanhedrin had long ago been deprived 
by the Eomans of any power over men's lives, 
but in their cruel rage and triumph these ven- 
erable councillors rushed at him as if they 
would themselves execute the sentence of 
death forthwith. 

Must I tell you what the leaders of his 
nation did that black night? 

As he stood helpless with manacled hands, 
they spat in his face, they drew a cloak over 
his head, and then struck him in the face, 
yelling, ^^Ah! Now play the prophet. Tell 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 239 

US who struck you then. ' ' And they even en- 
couraged the brutal soldiers to beat him with 
their fists and staves. 

Finally, tired out with their abuse, they 
went home to their breakfast. 

As they were leading Jesus out across the 
courtyard again to the dungeon, Peter, who 
had waited in the firelight all this time in 
dumb and frightened anxiety, was at that very 
moment engaged in a dispute with the sol- . 
diers. Another lassie had come up to Peter, 
as he started for the door, and said to him, 

i 6 There is no use denying it. You are one 
of that fellow's followers. This man here," 
she said to the others, ^^was with the Naza- 
rene— with Jesus.'' 

^^ Woman," he said shamefacedly, ^^I don't 
even know him. ' ' 

But another, a man-servant, affirmed posi- 
tively, 

'^Why, he was undoubtedly with him. His 
very Galilean tongue tells on him. Are you 
not a Galilee man?" 

Then one of the soldiers who had gone out 
to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, came up close 
to Peter and lifted his chin and gazed into his 
face. 

'^Didn't I myself see you with him in the 
orchard ? ' ' 

Then Peter in utter terror began to swear 
and to curse as in his old fisher days, and to 
shout, 



240 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

^^I never knew this man you are talking 
about. ' ' 

It was just at this moment that Jesus, 
bound and bruised, was led across the open 
corridor connecting the two palaces. As he 
passed, he looked Simon Peter in the eye. At 
the same instant, on a nearby roost, a cock 
crew. 

Peter was crushed as by a blow. The cock 
crowing— that look— the triple disowning! 

It had all come out as Jesus had said. 

The disgraced man rushed out into the 
morning light to hide his shame and bemoan 
his failure. 

Judas Iscariot had been present through 
both hearings. ' ' Now, ' ' he had thought, ' ' the 
priests will soon show up this pretender ! ' ' 

But he listened with amazement. Even his 
disordered brain could discern that the cap- 
tive was perfectly innocent. When he saw 
Jesus rise in the old grandeur and once more 
proclaim his kingdom, amazement changed to 
bewilderment. Was he right ? Were the lead- 
ers not only mistaken but malicious! Was 
the Messiah about to be murdered by his own 
[people? Was he that Chosen One's mur- 
derer ? Then, when they began their tortures 
and he saw the man who had stood by him 
so many times when others had deserted him, 
and even when he was unworthy of himself, 
suffering such agony, he could endure no 
longer. He rushed shrieking from the palace. 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 241 

Before seven o'clock in the morning the 
Sanhedrin was called together in regular ses- 
sion in the temple. While they were waiting 
for Jesus, Judas again appeared before them, 
standing in the semicircle, about which they 
were sitting. 

The madness had left him, but remorse had 
taken its place. Perhaps he hoped his con- 
fession would save Jesus. 

With cold, white face he said, as he laid his 
purse containing the petty amount of the 
blood-money upon the desk before Caiaphas, 
^'I have done wrong in betraying this good 
man to death. ' ' 

^^What is that to us?" asked Caiaphas with 
a sneer. ^^You must look out for that your- 
self." 

Judas flung the bag upon the temple floor 
and fled away. 

What he had done could not be hindered. 
He could not longer endure the horror of his 
own self. He could not live after his victim 
was murdered. That very morning, while the 
soldiers were nailing Jesus to his cross, he 
went out to a lonely field on the side of a hill 
south of the city, which he had intended to 
purchase with the blood-money, and hung 
himself. And before nightfall his hideous, 
broken body was found fallen from the parted 
rope at the bottom of a cliff by the roadside. 

Like Hanan, the high priest offered the 
Sanhedrin no evidence, he allowed no defense. 



342 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST^' 

He simply secured from Jesus another oath 
that he claimed to be the Christ and said, 
' ' Why do we want any more witnesses ? ' ' 

Then, without any vote of condemnation, he 
hurried the captive over to the palace of the 
Eoman governor. 

They were by no means yet sure of their 
purpose. It was all very well to browbeat the 
fearful and hoodwink the ignorant in their 
own body, but Pilate would demand legal evi- 
dence. What did this officer of Kome care 
about blasphemy? All foreign gods were 
alike to him. 

What charge could they make? 

Pilate was not pleased to see them, for they 
were old trouble-makers. 

According to their strict rules of ceremonial 
purity they could not enter a foreigner's 
house that sacred day, altho they could de- 
file their own homes and hearts with malice 
and murder. 

Pilate came grumbling out upon his porch 
to meet them. 

^^ What is the charge against this man?" 
he said gruffly. 

They were still perplexed as to what to say. 

^^If he had not been a criminal, we should 
not have handed him over to you, ' ' answered 
Caiaphas. 

^^Well,'^ said Pilate, starting to go back 
into his house, ^Hake him yourselves then, 
and try him by your own law. ' ' 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 243 

* ^^But we have no power to put any one to 
death/' they confessed in impotent rage. 

^^Oh, that is what yon want, is it?" said 
Pilate, as he entered his door. Then turning 
back he said to the soldiers guarding Jesus, 

' ' Bring him in here. ' ' 

Away from that noisy crowd he would soon 
find if there was anything at the bottom of 
-this. 

He seated himself and bade Jesus stand be- 
fore him. 

The evidence was repeated to him. He lis- 
tened without interest to the confused and 
pointless testimony, until finally one sentence 
caught his attention. 

^^ What's that?" he said. ^^King? What 
do you mean?" 

He turned and faced Jesus and looked him 
over. 

^^Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked 
with a sneer. 

Eemember, Pilate had never heard of 
Jesus. That shows how much stir he had 
made in the world. It shows also how little 
interference he had ever met from the Eo- 
man authorities. 

He looked at him impartially. He saw sim- 
ply a Galilean peasant ; not a wild revolution- 
ist nor a hardened criminal. The man seemed 
perfectly harmless. 

■^Did you suggest that," answered Jesus 



344 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

quietly, ^^or have other people said that to 
yon about me ? ' ' 

^^Do you take me for a JewT' Pilate an- 
swered crossly. ^^It is your countrymen and 
your own priests that have handed you over 
to me. What have you been doing, now?" 

^^My kingdom," said Jesus firmly, "is not 
one of this world's kingdoms. If it had been, 
of course my servants would have been fight- 
ing to prevent my being handed over to the 
Jews, but, as it is, my kingdom is nothing of 
that kind." 

^'So you are a king after all!" exclaimed 
Pilate. 

'^Yes. I am King, as you say," answered 
Jesus. ^'I was born for this, I have come 
into the world for this one thing— to bear 
witness to the Truth. Everyone who is on 
the side of Truth hears my voice." 

' ' Truth ! ' ' asked Pilate scornfully. ' ' What 
is that?" 

He made up his mind that Jesus was a 
dreamer. 

He came out to the waiting Jewish rulers 
and said, ^^Why, I don't find a charge by 
which this man can be held. I shall— " 

With a shout they interrupted him. They 
had thought up an entirely fresh accusation. 

^^He is stirring up sedition by his teaching 
all through Judea, starting from up in Gali- 
lee and coming all the way down here. ' ' 

^^ Galilee?" asked Pilate. ^^Then I will 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 345 

send him to King Herod. He belongs in his 
jurisdiction. ' ' 

Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Perea, 
the murderer of John the prophet, happened 
to be in the city at the time of this festival, 
and altho Pilate had not been on good terms 
with him, he thought he saw a chance here to 
win over an enemy. 

Herod was delighted to meet Jesus, for he 
had heard much about him from John the 
Baptizer. He had forgotten his own super- 
stitious fears, and it occurred to him that he 
might get this strange Galilean to do some of 
his magic for his entertainment. 

But to the slayer of his heroic friend, Jesus 
would not condescend a word. 

Finally the silly king lost his temper and 
determined to have some sport in one way if 
not in another. So he sent for some old 
clothes, and, dressing him up in a ridiculous 
dress of bright colors, he made a spectacle 
of him for his courtiers, and then sent him 
back in this way through the city streets. 

If Pilate had done the just thing at first 
and released Jesus when he first saw that he 
was innocent, he would have saved himself 
much trouble. But within an hour Jesus was 
led back to him again and he had his decision 
to make all over. 

The more Pilate talked with Jesus the more 
he was impressed by his innocence and the 
more he liked him. Jesus would not defend 



246 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

himself, for he knew it was only a waste of 
words. When he declined to alter or repeat 
his straightforward answers, and Pilate, los- 
ing his temper in his anxiety to find some 
way to release him, said, ^^AVhy do yon refnse 
to answer mef You don't seem to realize that 
I have power to release yon and also to crn- 
eif y yon, ' ' Jesns answered, pityingly and for- 
givingly, ^^Yes, bnt it is the one who handed 
me over to yon who has the greater sin to 
answer for. ' ' 

Altho Pilate hated these treacherons Jewish 
rulers, he had always gotten along with them 
as peaceably as possible. At once another 
compromise suggested itself to him. 

^^This man you have brought before me 
charged with misleading the people. But I 
have examined him and found him innocent 
of every one of these things of which you 
accuse him. Nor has Herod succeeded other- 
wise. As a matter of fact, he has done noth- 
ing worthy of death. I shall have him flogged 
and then release him. ' ' 

It was an outrageous decision. Flogging, 
which was done in those days by leathern 
thongs with iron ends, was so severe a punish- 
ment that culprits often died beneath the 
blows. 

But Pilate hoped to win pity from them 
because of his sufferings and thereby save his 
life. How much simpler it had been to do the 
fair thing and release Jesus at once and drive 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 247 

this wolf pack from his courtyard with his 
troops ! 

In another half hour Jesus was led again 
before them. His back had been striped with 
deep gashes, the blood was running from his 
body in streams, and the whole cohort of six 
hundred imbruted Romans had made sicken- 
ing sport of him with all the fiendish cruelty 
they possessed. 

Again Jesus and Pilate stood face to face 
on the raised portico. 

Even Pilate was overwhelmed with con- 
trition. The soldiers had thrown an old red 
war cloak over his bleeding shoulders, they 
had crushed a crown of sharp briars over his 
forehead and they had stuck a reed in his 
hand, to make him appear like a mock king. 
He was pale, trembling, fainting. But in si- 
lent courage and dignity he never seemed the 
true king of men that he was more than now. 

As Pilate turned to look at him, the morn- 
ing sun broke through a cloud upon the 
Savior ^s form. It lighted his hair and the 
country chaplet to a coronal of glory, starred 
with the rubies of his blood. It lit his eagle 
face and deep eyes with a touch of tender 
beauty. It fell upon the bound hands that had 
been so often put forth in mercy. It stole to 
the worn and patient feet, now entering upon 
their last journey. 

And Pilate, as he looked, started back in 
superstitious terror, remembering the strange 



248 THE BOYS' LIFE .OF CHRIST 

dream that his wife had just told him, that a 
son of the gods was about to be killed upon 
the cross. 

Pilate pointed to him in silence. 

Then he said in brief eloquence : 

^^ Behold! The Man!'' 

The real greatness of Jesus was manifest. 
Not eloquence, not deeds of power, not cour- 
age—great as they are and greatly as Jesus 
possessed them. The greatness of Jesus was 
love. No man ever loved like this man. 

But the priests and rulers, who had been 
planning what to do next, burst forth with 
one hoarse, prolonged shout, 

' ' Kill him ! Kill him ! Kill him ! ' ' 

Stirred by the omen of the dream, thor- 
oughly alarmed by the shoutings which 
seemed to portend a popular uprising, Pilate 
did only one thing more, weaker and more 
foolish than any other. 

It was the custom then, as it is still in some 
countries, to give a free pardon to some nota- 
ble criminal on every high festival day. 

Pilate thought of one Jesus Bar-Abbas, a 
desperate murderer, who was really and 
plainly guilty of the very crime of which 
Jesus was charged. 

Did these rulers want to show their patri- 
otism? Here was the chance. 

^^I will set free Jesus, this so-called king 
of yours, and I will execute Jesus Bar- Abbas, 
the traitor," he suggested. 



THE KING STANDS BEFORE KINGS 249 

The rulers, who had by this time gathered 
a rabble from the dregs of the city, instantly 
led them in yelling : 

^^No! Away with this fellow! Kill him! 
Release Bar- Abbas nnto us." 

It is a strange thing that the word ^^ Bar- 
Abbas" means '^son of the Father." They 
chose Jesus, the false ^^son of the Father," a 
rioter and murderer, instead of Jesus the 
true Son of God. 

And as he still hesitated, a deeper cry burst 
upon his ears, bearing the menace that al- 
ways caused him more terror than any other : 

^^If you let this fellow go, you are no friend 
of the emperor. Anybody who makes him- 
self out to be a king is setting himself against 
the emperor." 

^^But what shall I do with this king of 
yours ? ' ' 

They forgot even their untold hatred of 
Rome in their keener hatred of Jesus. 

^'We have no king but Caesar," they cried. 
**Let this man be crucified." 

Pilate could ill afford to have any com- 
plaint carried to Caesar. Innocent as he 
might seem if he did justly in this matter, 
there were other deeds— pillage, injustice, 
even murder— of which he could not afford 
to let the emperor have knowledge. 

Pilate was beaten. 

But he must cover up his defeat somehow. 

He did so in a weak and pitiful manner. 



250 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

He sent for a basin of water, and, in memory 
of an old custom by which a jndge thus dram- 
atically washed off responsibility from him- 
self, he washed his hands before them all, say- 
ing, 

^^I am not answerable for the bloodshed of 
this innocent. You look to it j^ourselves. ' ' 

And the leaders of Israel shouted in care- 
less exultation, '^His blood be on our heads, 
and on our children's." 



XXIV 
THE KING DIES FOR HIS PEOPLE 

North of the city, outside the gate, close 
to the road along which Jesus had walked so 
many times when coming in from Galilee, 
was the Hill of Execution,^ or, as it was 
called from its gruesome shape, Golgotha, a 
name that means ' ' Skull. ' ' 

Thither they dragged Jesus. 

It was now about nine in the morning. 

First marched a Roman captain at the head 
of a squad of soldiers, carrying aloft on a 
pole the name and supposed crime of the vic- 
tim. Pilate in his helpless rage had insisted 
on printing thereon this bitter insult to the 
Sanhedrin : 

THIS IS 
JESUS OF NAZARETH, 

The King of the Jews. 

Jesus and two thieves, who were also to be 
crucified that day, followed, bending beneath 
the cross-bars upon which they were to hang. 
A mixed crowd of rulers and rabble and curi- 
ous spectators surrounded them. A few of 

See Note 34. 



252 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

Jesus' own friends, including his mother, the 
other Marys, Salome, the mother of James 
and John, and John himself, brought up the 
rear. 

Jerusalem was now thoroughly awake. 

One thing I must remind you just here. 

It was not the Jewish people who murdered 
Jesus. It was only a small group of their 
rulers. The people simply neglected, wa- 
vered, were hesitant. They did nothing, while 
his foes were active. Neglect, not rejection, 
let Jesus die. The people were already mur- 
muring at this atrocious deed of violence 
against their beloved teacher. But the men 
said, ^^ What's the use? It is all over. It is 
too late. Already he has been condemned by 
our rulers, and can we rescue him from a regi- 
ment of soldiers?" But the women felt no 
such resignation, and from house-door and 
shop-window and the sides of the narrow 
streets they and their children looked upon 
him with streaming eyes of pity and bewailed 
him with loud laments. 

He was going to the most shameful form 
of death and to the most agonizing. But he 
forgot his own anguish entirely. He despised 
the shame. At every step he turned from side 
to side, speaking tender and thoughtful words 
to these women, entreating them all to pray 
as never before for their doomed nation and 
for the welfare of their own little children. 

The death of Socrates has always aroused 



THE KING DIES FOR HIS PEOPLE 253 

the sincerest admiration. Men have cher- 
ished the memory of the calmness of that ven- 
erable man, in drinking the fatal hemlock, 
after his condemnation by the highest law 
court of his nation, and dying with fearless 
dignity among his friends. But what shall 
we say of Jesus, so young, so strong, so beau- 
tiful, condemned without a show of justice, 
exhausted by loss of blood and sleep and 
food, nailed with spikes through hands and 
feet to a tree, exposed to heat and thirst and 
to the gaze of men, and deserted even by his 
friends, retaining to the last moment the very 
majesty of God? 

It is a precious memory to those who love 
him that he was the same Jesus to the very 
end. 

When he fainted by the city gate, and they 
forced a foreign Jew hurrying as a belated 
pilgrim to the festival to turn back and carry 
the shameful cross in his place, he walked 
beside the disappointed and embittered man 
and spoke to him with thanks and sympathy. 

When they jolted his trembling body as the 
cross was dropped into the hole in the earth, 
he prayed God to forgive those who were 
murdering him, because, after all, they were 
ignorant of what they were doing. 

He refused to stupefy himself with the 
drink which merciful women of the city pro- 
vided for such cases, for he thought it was 
cowardly to die unconscious. 



254 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

And while he was dying, the heartless Eo- 
man soldiers were carelessly casting lots in 
their helmets for his clothing, the only world- 
ly goods he possessed. Even the seamless 
robe, which Mary, his mother, had woven for 
him in Capernaum, went to warm some bar- 
barian sentinel as he guarded Israel 's capital. 

That mother, pierced to the heart with woe, 
clung to the foot of his cross, sharing, as 
mothers will, without a thought of herself, the 
shame of that dreadful day. 

John was the only one of the Twelve who 
braved death to be present. Jesus the night 
before had saved all their lives in the olive 
orchard, but to-day they had forsaken him. 
This one faithful comrade he drew nearer by 
calling his name, and then he spoke also to 
his mother. The words were few and feeble, 
but, oh, so thoughtful. 

^^John. See! your mother. 

^^ Mother, he will be your son." 

And as long as she lived, John took care of 
her for Jesus. 

He repeated snatches of those holy psalms 
which he had learned as a schoolboy and had 
loved all his life. 

His divine demeanor so moved one of the 
thieves who hung by him, and who had even 
joined with the mob in yelling insults and 
curses at him, that, afraid to die, he begged 
Jesus to forgive him when he took possession 
of his kingdom. Jesus assured him that on 



THE KING DIES FOR HIS PEOPLE 255 

that very day he should awake with him in 
glory. 

A weird shadow had been slowly settling 
over the earth all day. Soon after mid- 
day it grew dark as night. 

Gradnally the howls and curses of his ene- 
mies died away in terror, and only the sobs 
of the women, his friends, who knelt close by, 
could be heard. Even the Eoman soldiers 
had ceased their dice-playing and drinking 
and were dumb with superstitious awe. The 
very earth seemed tottering in revolt against 
the slaughter of its king. 

Those were six hours of mortal agony, but 
not a word of weakness came from his lips. 

Crucifixion does not itself kill. It simply 
exposes the helpless sufferer to heat, thirst, 
fever and the wild birds of prey. These did 
not kill Jesus. He died of a broken heart. 

But his last word to men was a cry of vic- 
tory. ^ ^ It is finished ! ' ' 

Then, like a child who comes at night to 
his father's arms, he said softly, ^^ Father, 
into thy hands I commend my spirit. ' ' 

And he fell asleep. 

The Eoman commander, remembering leg- 
ends of the passing of some of the ancient 
divine heroes, spoke the mind of the watch- 
ing world, when he exclaimed, as Jesus 
breathed his last : 

^^ Surely this man must have been a Son 
of God!" 



256 THE BOYS^ LIFE OF CHRIST 

The Jewish rulers who had killed Jesus 
were equally agitated. 

Their victim's death had seemed like a 
coronation. 

They returned to their council chamber in 
the temple, and in the brightening light of 
evening they saw a sight that caused them to 
tingle with terror. 

The heavy temple doors were rolled open, 
the silken curtains of sunset colors that had 
always hidden their Holy Shrine had been 
torn apart by the earthquake, and even the 
foreign visitors, the heathen, were peering 
curiously within. 

*^What did that Galilean say one day on 
this very spot? ^I am the Doorway. No one 
comes to the Father except through Me, ' and 
again, ^I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
unto me.' " 

One of Jesus' secret friends, named Jo- 
seph, a member of the Sanhedrin, owned the 
garden at the foot of the Hill of Execution. 
He and Nicodemus asked Pilate for the priv- 
ilege of burying the body of Jesus there in 
his new family tomb. Wliile the soldiers were 
taking the body down from the cross they dis- 
covered that the cause of Jesus' death was a 
rupture of the heart. 

But the rulers were so afraid, even of his 
senseless corpse and of his suddenly remem- 
bered word about ^^ raising in three days the 
temple of God," that they even ventured to 







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THE KING DIES FOR HIS PEOPLE 257 

Pilate again and besought him for a guard 
of soldiers to prevent after all some unknown, 
but impending undoing. 

So the friends of Jesus buried him. And 
as they bore him to the garden tomb they 
marveled that so slight a body had sustained 
so unwearied a life. They laid it in cool 
spices and fair, white linen, cleansing its 
sacred, wounds and washing away its stains, 
grieving in blind, tearful unfaith, yet com- 
forted at even this ministration to the dear 
remains. After the Sabbath was over they 
proposed to come and embalm the body. 
When they had finished, the guard rolled 
against the entrance a huge round door of 
stone, which they sealed with the royal signet. 
And all night long the sentinels paced to and 
fro before the king's sepulcher. 

That night was starlit and silent. John sat 
in his dark home soothing the gray-haired 
mother of Jesus. Simon Peter knelt in the 
agony of penitence in Gethsemane in the very 
spot where Jesus had prayed. The rest were 
scattered fugitives. 

And wearily the hopeless Sabbath drew on. 



XXV 

THE MORNING OF HIS KINGDOM 

Can you begin to feel the grief of the 
friends of Jesns? 

The Prince of life, that Heart of hearts, 
was dead. Hatred and shame had done their 
will with that shining spirit. 

It seemed the end of everything. 

Bnt was there not a hope— jnst a glimpse 
of light in the tempest? 

Could the King be defeated? Could his 
words of life live on and the Giver of life be 
dead? 

What had He himself said? ^^I have wres- 
tled— a^(i I have conquered!^^ 

How eagerly we read those fragments in 
the Eesurrection Story and wish they were 
more than fragments. 

The deserted tomb,^ left by the Lodger- 
for-a-night— the One like a gardener, walk- 
ing with blossoms in his hand— the Guest at 
supper, made known by his uplifted hand— 

One tale is more complete. 

* See Note 35. 



THE MORNING OF HIS KINGDOM 259 

Some of the fishermen had gone back to 
the lake. 

They went out one night toward the farther 
side to fish for the large lakefish. 

Everything hereabouts reminded them of 
their Lord. 

Across the lake were their homes and his 
at Capernaum. Above and beyond they could 
dimly see m the moonlight the mountain 
where he had called them and taught them 
the Blessings This very coast that lay close 
by through the fog was the one on which he 
had fed the multitudes. Farther south he 
had healed the Gadarene giant and preached 
m the Decapolis. The whole lake had been 
made sacred by his words and deeds when he 
had sailed with them upon its waters. 

Toward morning they heard a cheery voice 
on shore shouting through the mist, '^Lads 
have you any fish?" 

^''No," they replied, wondering. 

"Cast your net over on the other side of 
the boat, and you will find some." 

And, sure enough, they did. 

Where had this sort of thing happened be- 
fore ? 

Who was it that knew the lakefish better 
than any of them? 

John, of course, remembered. 

''It is the Master!" he exclaimed. 

In a flash Peter cried, "Here, John, hold 
this net. I'm going ashore." 



260 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

He leapt out of the boat and swam the hun- 
dred yards to the strand.^ 

When the rest came in, pulling the laden 
net, as soon as they were close enough to get 
a glimpse through the fog, they could see him, 
sitting with Peter, beside a fire. Jesus was 
roasting some of the fish, like herrings, which 
he had caught off the shore with hook and 
line for their breakfast. ^^ Bring some of the 
large fish up,'' said Jesus to Peter. 

So he ran down, and they laid these also 
on the coals. 

They all sat in strange silence as they ate 
breakfast. The sun, athwart the mountain- 
tops, was just smiting through the mists. 

There was Jesus putting the fish on pieces 
of bread and handing it about just as he had 
done so many times before when they had 
camped together, in those years beside the 
lake. And yet he was not the same. Between 
that supper in the upper room and this break- 
fast at the lakeside, between the agony and 
the triumph— something had intervened. 

When they arose to go, Peter, according 
to his old-time custom, strolled along the 
beach beside Jesus. John was close behind. 

Peter dreaded, 3^et he longed, to be alone 
with Jesus. 

Jesus was the one to break the silence. 

^^ Simon," he said, ^^are you more devoted 
to me than these others areT' 

* See Note 36. 



THE MORNING OF HIS KINGDOM 261 

Peter was not so ready to boast of his loy- 
alty as he had been the night of the betrayal, 
but neither was he willing to deny it. 

^^I am, Master," he answered heartily. 
' ' You know I love you. ' ' 

^^But, Simon, are you really devoted to 
me?" 

Simon replied again as before. 

Once more Jesus looked Simon keenly in 
the face. Three times Simon had disowned 
him. By a three-fold confession he must 
atone. 

^^ Simon, do you honestly love me?" 

Peter was pained and grieved. 

^^ Master," he cried, ^^you know all. You 
can see that I love you. ' ' 

' ' Then, ' ' said Jesus, pointing to the others, 
^^Tend my sheep." 

Do you remember how Jesus had told Si- 
mon that he was to be Chancellor of his king- 
dom? Had he forgotten? Was he mistaken? 

No, you begin to see. Jesus had said, ^^The 
Chief is he who serves." Simon was to be 
the first great Servant and Comforter of the 
Brotherhood of Followers. 

But Jesus had still more to tell him. 

^^When you were a boy, Peter, you could 
run wherever you would. But by and by men 
will take you up and carry you where you 
would not go. ' ' 

This puzzle meant that some day he should 



262 THE BOYS' LIFE OF CHRIST 

be carried to a violent death. The story is 
that later he^ too, died upon a cross. 

' ' Still will yon follow me ? " asked Jesns. 

^^With my whole heart I will,'' he an- 
swered, nndannted. 

Then, turning to John, who was coming 
np nearer, Peter pnt his arm affectionately 
npon his old friend's shonlder, and, remem- 
bering how dear he, too, was to Jesns, he 
said, 

^^And, Master, this man: what about him?" 

Bnt Jesns would not tell him. 

' ' Never mind about him, ' ' said Jesus gent- 
ly. '^It is enough for you to follow me." 

It is in the account of Jesus' life which 
came to us from this same John that we have 
this lakeside story. 

There he leaves Jesus^ walking on, with 
Peter and himself, ^^ alive f orevermore. " 

And thus we love to think of him still, walk- 
ing with those that love him, according to 
that last word, which Matthew tells us he 
said, ^^I shall be with you always." 

For if we have Jesus, we have not only 
Hero and Friend, but ^^God with us," the 
King of Glory. 

The Twelve waited in the supper-room un- 
til, touched with the flame of his Spirit, they 
went forth to disciple the world. ^ ' They did 
not wish him back, because they knew that he 
had never gone away. ' ' 




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THE MORNING OF HIS KINGDOM 263 

Those saintly men and pure-hearted women 
of the Christ Day passed away. Others in 
unbroken rank have succeeded them— mar- 
tyrs, heroes and confessors. 

The kingdom has gone on without ceasing. 
Wherever Love is there it reigns. 

And at the heart of this Kingdom still 
dwells our King. Saints who have had vi- 
sions have seen Jesus in glory. He was not 
at rest or forgetful. He was standing— by 
his throne— in expectant eagerness, watching 
and awaiting his soldiers doing his will. 

Thus his kingdom sees Him forever— the 
expectant Christ. 

For, what he expects of all, he expects of 
each. To each one of us who walks beside the 
sea of life Jesus still comes, and his message 
is the same as to Simon Peter of old— no less, 
no more : 

^^ FOLLOW ME/^ 



NOTES 



THE HOLY LAXI> 

WHERE JESrS LIVED. 




NOTES 

Nofe I. Following the Footsteps of Jesus 

In order to make the life of Christ perfectly real, it 
seems necessary to know more about the places in which 
He lived. In the main part of this book we have made a 
chronological study of the life of Christ. The purpose of 
these notes is to make a geographical study. Beginning 
with note 1, the reader is supposed to enter the Holy Land 
at Joppa, which is the most frequent landing-place of 
pilgrims to-day, and to take the consecutive journey to the 
different sites connected with the life of Jesus, traveling 
in the same order as the events of that life. These de- 
scriptions are outlines of those places as they appear to- 
day. The best means, outside of a \dsit, for making these 
places real to us has been prepared by Underwood & 
Underwood, who have made stereographs of the places 
described in notes. These thirty-six photographs are num- 
bered to correspond with the numbering of our notes. It 
will be helpful to the reader if, before reading each note, 
he turns also to the map of the Holy Land and fin^s the 
exact location of the place which is described. 

The traveler to the Holy Land, c^s you will see by the 
map, approaches it from the west, coming directly to the 
long, straight coast line which reaches unbroken from 
Tyre on the north to Gaza on the south. Altho he can 
see only the harbor of Joppa, the whole land is before 
him, from Galilee and the Lake of Galilee on the north 
to Judea and the Dead Sea, seventy-five to one hundred 
miles to the south, with the Mediterranean Sea washing 
the shore line on the west. As the traveler looks eastward 
to Joppa from his steamer, across the reefs which choke 
the harbor, Egypt is three hundred miles behind him to 



268 NOTES 

his right, and Asia Minor five hundred miles behind him to 
his left. Joppa, or Jaffa, anciently the only seaport of 
Jerusalem and Palestine, is a compact city of Moham- 
medans and Christians, which is built on a whaleback 
rise of rocky ground, the only eminence on the southern 
coast. The walls of its flat-roofed houses are of blue, 
pink, white and yellow, and sparkle in the brilliant sun- 
light. The tower of a monastery, the minaret of a mosque 
and an occasional palm tree break the sky-line. In this 
mooring, through which the passenger is taken in a small 
boat, once lay logs of cedar for Solomon's Temple, cut 
at the far north on Mount Lebanon and floated down the 
coast. In this town lived Dorcas, and here Peter saw the 
vision that opened his heart to the world. 

The traveler to-day, impatient to set foot on the Holy 
Land, must clamber down the side of his steamer and 
intrust himself to the fierce-looking boatmen who will row 
him through the breakers to the rocky landing place. 

After we have landed here, we shall wish to go at once 
to Bethlehem, the place of our Savior's birth. We go 
along the roadway to the left, through dirty, narrow 
streets, past the huddled houses, amongst a mixed throng 
of Europeans, Egyptians, Northern Syrians, Palestine 
peasants, Bedawin of the desert, dogs and beasts of bur- 
den, until we reach the railroad station or the roadway of 
our departure. Straight before us stretches the plain of 
Sharon toward Jerusalem. The people who come to 
Bethlehem usually lodge at Jerusalem. It is up hill all 
the way, rising twenty-five hundred feet in forty miles 
by a funny old-fashioned road. One can go in this way 
in five hours, or if he travels by camel spend two days 
on the way. 

Note 2. The Main Street of Bethlehem To-day 

On the map of Palestine find Bethlehem, a short dis- 
tance southwest of Jerusalem. The little town is built on 
the eastern slope of a watershed, a part of Judea's table- 
land. It is twenty-seven hundred feet above the sea level. 



KOTES 369 

and the air is clear and dry. It stretches along the hill- 
sides, and from its highest part we can see to the east as 
far as the Dead Sea, to the north the hills that hide Jeru- 
salem. We approach it from the northwest, and let us 
suppose that just at the entrance to the market-place we 
pause and look back along the main street. It is only a 
long and narrow lane, which appears unusually clean for 
an Oriental street, but its only drainage is on the surface 
down to the gutters at the side. The soft limestone houses 
are not ancient, and they differ from that in which Joseph 
found shelter for Mary and her son in that they have two 
stories and outside balconies which were unknown then, 
but the flat roofs with growing plants and the small out- 
side windows remind us of the houses of the olden time. 
Some of them have outside stairw^ays, which were a com- 
mon method in olden time of approaching the roofs. This 
lane is <3rowded with people ; most of them are Christians. 
They wear the turban rather than the fez, and the women 
of Bethlehem to-day, as probably in the time of Christ, 
have a special local costume, with a stiff head-dress and 
peculiar cloak. The children have bright faces and are 
attractive, though they go barefooted and dress in rags. 
You can never look down a Palestine street without see- 
ing at least one of the half -wild street dogs. It was along 
such a lane as this that Joseph and Mary came at the end 
of their long journey from Nazareth, and when they went 
to Jerusalem and returned, at the time when they pre- 
sented Jesus in the Temple. Hither came the magi from 
Herod, and Herod^s soldiers on their bloody errand. 

Note 3. In Bethlehem To-day 

As soon as we leave the main street of Bethlehem and 
turn southward, we find ourselves in the village square. 
It is at the east end of the town overlooking the valley, 
with its olive orchards, meadows and sheep-folds. From 
the outer windows of the buildings that surround the 
square, one can look down upon the field of the shepherds. 



270 NOTES 

whence they came to visit the Babe who was to be their 
Savior. 

The square to-day is filled, as it was on that day when 
Joseph came to be enrolled in the census, with camels and 
donkeys, the beasts of burden of the rich and the poor, 
such as those of the magi and of Joseph. The latter are 
loaded with firewood; the former having come a longer 
distance, are unladen as they rest. Thi buildings that 
surround the square to-day are of a better class than those 
usually seen in Palestine, for their owners are Christians, 
probably- prosperous dealers in curios. Across the square 
is a ruined mosque, but the Mohammedans have not wor- 
shiped in Bethlehem for over seventy years. Just be- 
hind us is the entrance of the Church of the Nativity, the 
oldest Greek church in the world. Even to-day, among 
the tawdry trappings of the gold and silver lamps, the 
marbles and ivories, the brilliant flames and soft incense, 
one can see that the grotto of the nativity underneath the 
church is only an irregular cave in the rock. Here was 
the Inn of Bethlehem, a bare, open place like this, with a 
lean-to, already full of guests. In one of the mangers for 
cattle below the Babe was laid, amidst the slime and reek. 
Little did it look like the birthplace of a King. 

Ere we go away from Bethlehem we shall not forget 
that once, perhaps across this very market place, ran the 
shepherd boy David as he came in from his father's 
pastures, and that Ruth may have walked here many 
times at morning and even when going to or returning 
from the barley fields of Boaz. 

Note 4. The View from the Hilltop at Nazareth 

From Bethlehem the holy family went down to Egypt 
and returned to Nazareth — which, as the map shows, is 
about ninety miles due north of Bethlehem — along the 
coast, past Joppa, so as to avoid the new Herod. We 
may imagine ourselves transported along the direct route 
over the tablelands of Judea and Samaria. Palestine, 
like all Gaul, was divided into three parts. Judea and 



NOTES 271 

Samaria were two. The third and northern part was 
called Galilee. Nazareth was in lower Galilee. 

It is a steep climb up into Nazareth, a hillside town 
whose slopes face southw^ard. 

If you should walk to-day to the roof of the English 
Orphanage, near the top of the hill at Nazareth, and look 
southward, you would see the same view that Jesus saw 
when He was a boy. Beyond, winding down into the 
Plain of Esdraelon, would be the path up which you had 
clambered into the town, the same road down which Jesus 
walked when he went across the valley. You can see 
from here to the south, as the text suggests, on the left 
the valley that leads up to Mount Gilboa, connected with 
the exploits of Gideon and Saul, and at the right the 
crest of Carmel where Sisera's army first debouched upon 
the plain. You are sixteen hundred feet above the Medi- 
terranean. You. can see the flashing reflection of a stream 
that is a branch of the River Kishon, which flows west- 
ward into the Mediterranean. As the watershed between 
the Mediterranean and the Jordan is here, a stream a few 
rods to the left, flows in the opposite direction into the 
Jordan. The sharp hill beyond, at our left, seems to 
mark a slice cut out of the range, as if on purpose to 
open up this glorious vista. That hill is by some called 
" the Mount of Precipitation,'' because they believe it was 
where the people of Nazareth tried to cast Jesus down. 
But it is so far away that it seems more likely to have 
been some steep place on this hill above the village on 
which we are standing. Nazareth is on every side but 
this enclosed by mountains as a flower is by leaves. The 
chalky limestone, w^hich peeps through the verdure like 
snow, shows how scanty is the soil. You recognize the 
olive and the cypress. The fig, the mulberry, the lemon, 
the pomegranate and the almond grow in the gardens. 
This village is also the northern limit of the palm. 

The houses below us lie in snowy whiteness. It is 
interesting to try to pick out one which resembles the 
house in which Jesus was brought up, which, of course, 



272 NOTES 

is not standing to-day. Most of the houses still have flat 
roofs where the inhabitants can enjoy fresher air than in 
the stuffy streets, or watch the flocks and herds, or in 
summer lie down to sleep. The streets are narrow and not 
very clean. The houses on either side present a blank 
wall, which is broken here and there by little recesses used 
for shops and stores. 

The house in which Jesus lived probably had only one 
or two rooms. It may have been built of stone like those 
to-day or of dried mud whitewashed. It probably had 
no window and no chimney. A hole in the roof and the 
open door answered instead. But as the people lived an 
outdoor life, even cooking outside in fair weather, the 
house was a sufficient shelter. 

All the water, to-day, as then, for the entire village, 
must be brought from a large spring or fountain near the 
foot of the hill. 

Note 5. The Fountain at Nazareth 

We can come down from the hilltop through one of 
these narrow streets to the very fountain from which 
Mary used to draw water. The arch over it may be a 
modern one, but the fountain is the only one Nazareth 
ever had. This fountain is conducted from a spring 
above, over which to-day stands a Christian Church on 
the site where, it is claimed, the angel appeared to Mary. 
Just to our left is another church, which claims to oc- 
cupy the spot where Jesus attended the synagog, and 
later preached His first sermon. The women of Nazareth 
have always been noted for their beauty, owing, it is 
claimed, to the blessing of the Virgin Mary. They dress 
like the women of Bethlehem, except that instead of a 
stiff head-dress, on each side of the face is a rouleau of 
silver coins fastened to a pad which is fitted to the head. 
It is to coins worn in this fashion that our Savior 
alluded in the parable of the Lost Piece of Silver. As the - 
women come with their empty jars, they carry them on the 
side, then turn them upright as they take them away full. 



NOTES 273 

They seem very hea^^y, but the women carry them with a 
light, graceful step up the steep lanes of Nazareth. The 
loaded donkeys on their way to Cana or Jerusalem or 
Damascus are seen to-day as then, and just beyond is 
the village Inn, an open court with a shelter at one side, 
as was the Inn at Bethlehem. A cattle market is often 
held there. 

Note 6. The Sights in Crossing the Plain of Esdraelon 

When the Nazareth cavalcade went down into the Plain 
of Esdraelon moving southward, the first streams they 
crossed would be flowing westward, but as they went 
onward to where the Plain slopes toward the Jordan the 
brooks would all be flowing eastward. This eastern end 
of the Plain has always been frequented by shepherds^, 
some of whom have their homes beyond the Jordan. 

To these streams they still come, as in the days when 
Jesus walked through, leading their sheep " by the side of 
still waters." They live wild, lonely lives, but, as in the 
time of Jesus, they are faithful to their flocks, still some- 
times in this very Plain protecting them from the Bedawin 
robbers at the cost of their lives. They often carry the 
smaller lambs in their bosoms or under their arms in the 
folds of their cloaks. They find dogs indispensable for 
their assistance to protect from wild animals as well ag 
from robbers. These dogs, like the neglected ones in the 
towns, are shaggy and savage. The sheep are usually 
white, but sometimes brown. In stormy weather they 
are sheltered in the hillside caves or in rough enclosures 
of stone. Even as in His day, the shepherds lead their 
sheep instead of driving them, and they know their sheep 
by name. The goats come down to the water with the 
sheep, but the flocks seldom mingle. 

It was in the spring, when the ewes bring forth their 
young and the thick mud of the Plain has dried and pro- 
duced its early crop of grass, that Jesus on his way to the 
Passover would pass through innumerable flocks. The 
fact that the first employment of his forefathers was that 



274 NOTES 

of shepherds and that sheep were the customary victims 
of sacrifice, as well as because of the beautiful analogies 
they suggest, would help explain his frequent references 
to shepherds and sheep. 

Very likely the sheep which the Nazareth men brought 
to Jerusalem for sacrifice came either from the Plain of 
Esdraelon or the sheepf olds of Bethlehem. 

Note 7. The General Outlines of the Holy Land 

Now that Jesus is going out into the world it is desira- 
ble to know the outlines of that little country which was 
to be the sphere of his work. The map, especially the 
relief map, becomes necessary here. 

You notice first its four great divisions, strips of vari- 
ous heights all broadening toward the south. They are, 
from the left; the lowland plain, the tableland sloping 
gently down to the west and steeply to the east, the Jordan 
Valley and the highlands east of it. These divisions are 
cut in two, as you observe, by the Plain of Esdrae- 
lon, bounded on the south bj?' the Carmel range, which at 
its western end juts out into the sea. How remarkable 
are the contrasts of elevation. Here, close to us, is the 
Dead Sea, thirteen hundred feet below the level of the 
sea, and there, just beyond the little lake that is the source 
of the Jordan, is Mt. Hermon, nine thousand feet above 
it. The levels of these four strips vary so much in 
climate as well as in elevation that five out of the eight 
physical zones of the earth are represented within this 
tiny country. Between the Mount of Olives, two thousand, 
seven hundred and twenty-three feet above the sea, and 
the valley of the Dea Sea, one thousand two hundred and 
ninety-two feet below it, twenty miles distance, one can 
find the pine and the palm, the cane and the wheat, the 
skylark and the grackle, the mountain wolf and the 
gazelle. The mountains around Jerusalem may be seen 
covered with snow, while the Jordan valley is green with 
tropical desert. North are the glaciers of Hermon ; south 
is the steaming cauldron of the Dead Sea. 



NOTES - 275 

It is a little country. From Hermon's summit it is all 
visible. Nearly every high hill on the central tableland 
comprehends a view both of the Mediterranean and the 
Jordan, the western and the eastern boundaries. 

It is interesting to notice how Jesus covered this land 
over and over again in his journeys. With the exception 
of the lowland plain, he seems to have gone into every 
part. 

In his first journey to Jerusalem he comes directly over 
the backbone of the central tableland, past Tabor, Gilboa, 
Carmel, Ebal and Bethel. 

When he went to his baptism he walked down to the 
Jordan valley at Beth-shean and traced that stream down 
its deep, hot valley, nearly to the Dead Sea. 

His temptations took him through the Wilderness of 
Judea, between the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. 

When he returned to call his first friends he went up 
this valley to the Lake of Galilee and Capernaum, on the 
northwest shore, passing through Tiberias, the northern 
capital. Down this valley he came again with the fisher- 
men to the Passover. 

Then he made a circuit of Judea with them, possibly 
going even as far south as Hebron. 

He went back to Nazareth and Cana over the tableland 
through Samaria. 

His first year's ministry took him all about Galilee, with 
his headquarters at Capernaum. The Mount of Beati- 
tudes is west of the lake. 

When he had been rejected at Bethsaida he went into 
upper Galilee and Phoenicia to Tyre and Sidon on the 
coast and perhaps over the mountains eastward in sight 
of Damascus on the border of the great plains of the 
Assyrian desert. He returned home through the Decapo- 
lis east of the Lake. 

After he had returned to Capernaum he went due north 
up the Jordan and climbed Mount Hermon, at the time^ 
of the Transfiguration. 

Down the Jordan or over the tableland he went for the 



276 NOTES 

last time to Jerusalem. Thence he is heard of in Perea, 
the region east of the Jordan, in Samaria and in the 
borders of Judea. 

At the Passover at Jerusalem he gave his life. 

Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Phoenicia, Decapolis, Upper 
Galilee, Perea, Jerusalem — all these in turn witnessed the 
working out of his systematic, orderly campaigns of 
testimony. 

If you like to work out the campaigns of your favorite 
military heroes, keep the map ever before you and master 
in the same manner the campaigns of Jesus, 

Note 8. Jerusalem from near the place from which it 
was first seen by Jesus 

There is a hill a little northeast of Jerusalem, now 
called Mount Scopus, but named by the Crusaders Mount 
Joy, because in their invasion of the Holy Land from 
Acre on the north it was the point from which they first 
caught sight of their coveted goal. This spot is not far 
from the old roadway from Nazareth, so that if we enter 
as Jesus did, this is the view he had, one which includes 
the whole of the city at once. From this viewpoint the 
northeastern corner of the city is directly before us, with 
the full length of the eastern wall stretching off to our 
left, and the northern wall more dimly seen extending off 
to the right. The city is seen to be built on a headland or 
tongue of land stretching southward, which drops down 
at the south into two valleys, the Valley of Hinnom on 
the west and south, and the Valley of the Kedron on the 
east. Since Jesus' day the city has been growing steadily 
northward and now there is as much of it outside as 
within the walls. The largest dome in the city is seen 
over the center of the eastern wall — the Dome of the 
Rock — and stands in the midst of the Temple area, on 
the site of the Temple. A white modern tower near the 
center of the city belongs to the German Church of St. 
John, and a short distance farther to the right are the two 
domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 



NOTES 277 

Jerusalem in those early days, as now, was a walled 
city, and the wall on the east side had, perhaps because it 
was nearest the Temple, been demolished and rebuilt 
oftener than any other. The present wall is about three 
hundred and fifty years old. 

This wall rises at the further corner, its oldest part, to 
a height of one hundred and eighty feet above the ground. 
The rubbish that has gathered at the root is in places from 
sixty to ninety-five feet deep. The wall is now hemmed 
by extensive cemeteries, and this fact, with the sombre 
gray of the dome-roofed houses and the oppressive silence 
of the place most of the day, makes the city, upon ap- 
proach, seem a most mournful place. 

The '' Dome of the Rock,'' which stands on the site of 
the Temple, is very close to this eastern wall. The city 
was probably then, as it is to-day, a collection of low, 
uninteresting houses with narrow streets, but it was the 
Temple that made it glorious. How its white marble 
must have shone beside the brick limestone and mud of 
the humbler houses! In Jesus' day the view of it was 
somewhat obstructed, however, on the side nearest to us 
by the Eoman fortress of Antonia. West of that was 
probably the council house of the Sanhedrin. Still fur- 
ther west was the gymnasium and the lofty palace of the 
Asmoneans, built by the ancestors of the patriot Macca- 
bees and used in the time of Jesus by Herod as his 
residence. 

The gate which pierced this eastern wall nearest the 
Temple (seen nearest the Dome of the Rock from here) 
was the chief entrance to that holy place, and, as it opened 
into the path to the Mount of Olives and Bethany, which 
are east of the city, was the one used most often by Jesus. 
It is called the Golden Gate and is now sealed up. 
Nearer us in this eastern wall is St. Stephen's Gate, so- 
called because, according to a very ancient tradition, it 
was from this gate that Stephen was dragged by the mob, 
and just outside it he was stoned. 



278 NOTES 

Over the hills that surround the city, to the southwest, 
lies Bethlehem. 

Note 9. Where did John the Baptist Live ? 

On the way from Jerusalem to Jericho the traveler 
passes through a part of the Wilderness of Judea. 
Among the many brooks that plunge down the canons 
of that waste of rock and sand is one called the Wady 
Kelt to-day, which many believe to be the Brook Cherith 
of the Old Testament. The region is that of the exile of 
Elijah. Up under the shelter of the perpendicular crags 
is a convent which claims to occupy the site of Elijah's 
shelter. 

As John's hero was Elijah it would not be strange if 
this very spot, which has for generations been held in 
tradition as Elijah's Cherith^stopping place, should have 
been his abode. The deep gorge, the brook and the path 
that follows it part of an old thief -infested road. There 
is a cave above the convent: a good hiding place for 
Elijah and for a man who had many things to think out. 
Ah! how still it would be, and how lonely those tawny 
cliffs and somber bushes. Such a man would need to be a 
hunter and woodsman and naturalist, a Thoreau for sim- 
ple living; a St. Francis perhaps in his communion with 
the beasts, but in his m.oral courage a John Knox who 
dared to stand before kings and queens and tell them the 
truth. You know how simple and direct and fearless 
often are those who dwell aloof and think on noble things. 

Note 10. Baptizing in the Jordan To-day 

Ten or a dozen miles east of the old convent in the 
Cherith canyon is the Jordan, and there, at the spot 
nearest to the road from Jericho to the river, is still 
pointed out the scene of John's baptizing. It is in the 
midst of a jungle of small trees and flowering shrubs. 

How turbid and uninteresting is this River Jordan, 
which was the scene of Joshua's triumphant crossing, 
which is glorified in our hymnology as the symbol of the 



NOTES 279 

Christian's death and into which Russian and Coptic 
pilgrims rush each year by thousands to wash their sins 
away ! The bushes that line the shore have been torn 
away in the rapid fall of the river from its lofty fountain 
one thousand three hundred feet above in the Lake of 
Galilee. This is near the Dead Sea, you know, the deepest 
bowl in the earth's surface, one thousand two hundred 
and ninety feet below the level of the sea. 

We should remember concerning" this river, to which 
thousands of modern pilgrims come each year, that it 
was never to the Hebrews a sacred or beloved stream. 
It is unlovely, its shores were never thickly populated 
and it was never more than a boundary line to Israel. 

The Russians to-day who are baptized in the Jordan are 
dressed in their shrouds, surrounded by spectators who 
wear the garb of the time of Jesus, and protected by 
Arab chiefs who have guarded them from the assault of 
other tribes down the dangerous road from Jerusalem 
to Jericho. 

Note II. The Plain of Jericho 

Only four or five miles westward, across the plain from 
the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus, we may stand 
on the acclivity that leads up to the traditional mount of 
the temptation, and, therefore, get a part of the same 
view southeastward which Jesus would see if He climbed 
to the mountain top. Yonder to the right we have our 
first glimpse of the Dead Sea, and to the left, see the 
Jordan glimmer in the sun as it rushes to its grave in the 
Dead Sea. Still farther away, beyond the Jordan, stand 
the gray ramparts of the hills of Moab, which rise at the 
extreme left into Mount Nebo, the burial place of Moses, 
who from those mountains caught sight of the Canaan he 
could not enter. Could we see farther beyond the sea at 
the right and over the intervening cliffs, we would catch 
sight of Machaerus,, Herod's castle, where John the 
Baptist suffered imprisonment and death. Looking 
nearer, we see the once fertile and palm-covered plain of 



280 NOTES "^ 

the Jordan, covered now only with stunted trees and 
bushes. It is a picture of the wreck of human glory. 
There have been at least three Jerichos. Where the plain 
rises near us into a higher plateau, over which a path 
runs, stood Old Testament Jericho. The few heaps 
there now are later than those of the walls which tumbled 
down at Joshua^s attack. The aqueduct near us was prob- 
ably here in Jesus' time, and stretches down across the 
plain to New Testament Jericho, which is at the extreme 
right and half way to the sea. Modern Jericho is to the 
left in the distance, a miserable village. We are over a 
thousand feet below the level of the ocean and over three 
thousand five hundred feet below Jerusalem. The climate 
is sultry and enervating. Jericho, though rich, has, be- 
cause of its nerveless inhabitants, been the spoil of many 
captures. Smith says : " She never stood a siege, and 
her inhabitants were always running away. No great man 
was born in her, no heroic deed was done in her. She 
was only a pantry of Judea.'^ 

The Israelites came down over the mountains of Moab, 
at our extreme left, from their last camping place at 
Heshbon. They crossed the river near the traditional 
spot of the baptism of Jesus. Before them stood this 
Jericho, " city of palms,'' hidden by a forest of luxuriant 
foliage eight miles long, the capital of the district, which 
must be captured if they would make any further advance 
into the white limestone mountains of Judea, that stood 
like a rampart before them. Down the path before us, 
near ancient Jericho, is Elisha's spring, the only spring 
of good water anywhere near either ancient or modern 
Jericho. It was these waters that Elisha sweetened, and 
from here down to the river walked Elisha and Elijah at 
the latter's translation. From this well must have come 
the water upon Zacchaeus' table when our Lord was enter- 
tained here, and from this fountain the Herod who slew 
the infants of Bethlehem, and who spent his last days at 
Jericho, must have drunk. 

If Jesus climbed to the top of the mountain behind us 



NOTES 281 

He would have looked in every direction. The view 
reaches from Hebron to Bethel and Ramah on the west, 
and includes the Holy City. A temptation suggested by 
this mountain-top vision of all the kingdoms of the world 
would embrace IsraeFs history from its passage of the 
Jordan to its glory under Solomon when this height was 
the center and not the outpost of his extended domain. 
It would include Abraham and Moses and Elijah and 
Elisha and David. It would consider this narrow path 
from the Jordan as the roadway of prophets, priests, 
kings, crusaders and armies of all nations. Through this 
valley once moved the stately train of Cleopatra, here 
passed Herod's funeral and here camped some of our 
own forefathers on their holy quest to the sepulchre of 
Jesus. 

Note 12. The View from the Eastern Wall, "the 
Pinnacle of the Temple '* 

If we return from Jericho to Jerusalem we can stand 
on the eastern wall of the city just about where " the 
pinnacle of the temple '' was and look over the chasm of 
the Kedron. 

Here we can see how deep is this gorge, or valley, of 
Kedron, which runs along this east side of Jerusalem. 
Yonder across the valley is the Mount of Olives. Beyond 
that hill lies Jericho and the Jordan from which we have 
come. The road farthest to the left leads to Jericho, and 
the roads running off to the right lead to Bethany, which 
lies just over this hill, believed to be the one over which 
Christ came from Bethany at the time of His triumphal 
entry into Jerusalem. A small enclosure, containing tall, 
dark cypress trees, and a few old olives, down there where 
the several roads meet, is the Garden of Gethsemane, 
where later Jesus spent His last night of awful suffering. 
The modern tower at the top of the hill claims to occupy 
the site of the ascension. Thus the places of the Agony, 
the Triumphal Procession and the Ascension were all in- 
cluded in his view at his temptation. 



282 NOTES 

Note 13. Life on the Shore of Galilee 

When Jesus went up the Jordan from Jerusalem to 
Capernaum he probably passed through Tiberias. 

Bethsaida and Capernaum have vanished, but the town 
of Tiberias^ the capital and home of Herod Philip, re- 
mains, and in its busy life we can see what was the 
nature and toil of the fishermen who followed Jesus, and 
from whom He chose many of His friends and disciples. 
A moment^s study of the life of the fishermen is appro- 
priate here, because, with the exception of the brief min- 
istry in Jndea, the Master's life divides into four periods : 
the ministry in a human home, the ministry of service in 
Galilee, the ministry of teaching in Perea, and the min- 
istry of atonement in Jerusalem, and we are really just 
now entering the second period, among the fishermen of 
Galilee, of which the Judean work had been but a brief 
interruption. A broad, stout fishing boat, with its curious 
sail, moored beside the old Roman fortress of Tiberias 
now, is such a boat as that in which Christ often sailed 
this sea, and from its stern preached to such a motley 
company as those on its shores to-day. The people are 
still many of them Jews. The fish that the fishermen 
catch now are the small fish, such as the boy brought to 
Jesus, not the large ones caught out in the depths of the 
lake. The lake still swarms with fish, but the inhabitants 
are too indolent to go out after them. In the time of 
Jesus, Josephus says that the fishing and the attendant 
commerce supported nine large towns on the lake shore,, 
so that in his day the houses and hamlets must have been 
nearly continuous, at least on the western side. To-day 
all but Tiberias are obliterated, and the site of Caper- 
naum is not even known. 

The fortress of Tiberias is a reminder of its Roman 
palace, where reigned in Jesus' day Herod Philip, the 
mildest and best of the Herods. Perhaps because it was 
so largely a foreign city it is not mentioned in the gospels 
that Jesus ever preached in Tiberias. 



NOTES 283 

Note 14. A Wedding To-day in Palestine 

The wedding procession, says the Hastings Dictionary 
of the Bible, naturally fell into two parts. First, the 
bridegroom and his friends marched to the home of the^ 
bride. The attendant throng gave vent to its jubilant 
feelings in dancing and shouting. Then came the return, 
the escorting of the bride to the house of the groom by 
himself and his friends. The close of this journey at the 
bridegroom^s gate is a scene we may witness 'in any 
Palestine street to-day. We may see the bride, in her 
gala array, mounted, carrying her husband's sword, used 
in the service to symbolize his authority, the groom and 
his friends are by her side, the women attendants of the 
bride are following behind. The rest are interested neigh- 
bors. Jesus at the feast would have been in the company 
of escorts to the bride, and when once within the house, 
would have been seated near the bridal party and " the 
master of the feast.'' 

Note 15. The Region about Jacob's Well 

If we sEould stand on the slopes of Mount Ebal to-day 
we could look over the top of the tableland of Judea as 
far south as Shiloh and even Bethel. The path that 
stretches southward, as the map shows, is approximately 
the one along which Abraham traveled from Shechem to 
Bethel. It is the road up which the wearied Jesus came 
on his way back to Nazareth. Returning to Galilee, 
Jesus stepped aside at Jacob's well, which may be seen 
in the white enclosure of the Greek monastery garden 
down to the left. He took the road to Galilee, close to 
the foot of the mountain, when he went on to Sychar. 
He passed Joseph's tomb (a white-domed building), 
which Jacob won from the Amorites with his sword and 
gave to Joseph. Here to-day Hebrews, Samaritans, 
Mohammedans and Christians face in four different direc- 
tions and pray to the Supreme God. Shechem and 
Samaria, as you see by the map, are at the end of the 
path which passes out of sight between the mountains to 



284 NOTES 

the west. A ruined temple within the more ancient 
temple .of the Samaritans is still seen on the summit of 
Gerizim. There they claim Abraham went to sacrifice 
Isaac, and there they keep the Passover. Joshua's home 
was beyond the slope of Gerizim. It was amid these his- 
toric scenes, between the peaks of Ebal and Gerizim, 
that Joshua gathered Israel for the dedication of the land. 
There is a little Moslem chapel behind us which had once 
been a sacred place among the peasantry, and which may 
be the site of the monumental altar which Joshua erected. 
Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is sometimes represented 
by the poets as green, and Ebal, the mount of cursing, as 
bare, but both are equally bare to-day. 

Note i6. Jacob's Well 

As we descend into the little chapel which surrounds 
the mouth of Jacob's well, which is now several feet below 
the surface of the meadow we see in its center a round 
smooth stone well-curb, which marks perhaps the only 
place where we may be absolutely sure that Jesus once 
sat. The well at one time was one hundred and twenty 
feet deep, but so many stones have been thrown into it 
by pilgrims, that it is now not more than seventy-five feet 
deep. There is still plenty of water at the bottom, and, 
of course, every traveler wants a cool cup from the 
patriarch's well. You will perhaps see close to the well a 
water- jar and a copper pail with rope for drawing water 
from the well, and even a woman of Sychar with head- 
dress and veil who, as she sits by the well, will remind 
you, in her very manner, of the woman who sat there and 
talked with Jesus. This ruined chapel contains to-day a 
few hanging lamps and sacred pictures, and is taken care 
of by the Greek monks. 

Note 17. Modern Lepers 

Forty or fifty of these wretched people may generally 
be seen outside Jerusalem. They seat themselves by a 
wall near the Garden of Gethsemane. They are found in 
other parts of Palestine, living in pitiful seclusion, ^^ afar 



NOTES 285 

from the dwellings of men/' Such horrible sights make 
plain to travelers to-day the awfulness of misery and sin 
to which Jesus ministered. These lepers to-day, with 
horrible, unintelligible sounds, beg from the passer by, 
but never attempt to come near him; yet Jesus touched 
them. The disobedience and ingratitude of the leper often 
marked his disfigurement as one of soul as well as of 
body. 
Note i8. The Court of a Village House in Galilee 

As Jesus comes back from Jerusalem and Samaria to 
begin his Galilean ministry, we want to know more about 
the house life of the people among whom he now made 
his home. 

Some of the houses which stand to-day in Galilee re- 
semble in their structure the homes of Jesus' day. They 
are built of substantial limestone masonry, and their 
arches have carven religious emblems. The house is a 
castle, forbidding and windowless without, but with 
plenty of social life in the grass-grown inner court, where 
the family live most of the time in fair weather. The 
flat roof covers an upper room, approached by a stair- 
way on the outside. Goats, who furnish milk and meat, 
and whose skins are receptacles for wine, share the 
sociability w^ithin. They sleep with the cattle in the first 
story under the archways. Several families live together 
in these large houses. The number of children and dogs 
present suggest how noisy their family life must be. You 
will still see the woman grinding at the mill with her 
kneading trough near by, and others washing clothes, 
with an extremely frugal amount of water. The earthen- 
ware is dilapidated, and the waterpots remind us of those 
used in Nazareth and Cana. 

Jesus probably taught when he was at home in a win- 
dow or gallery of the second story overlooking the court- 
yard, and the people were around him and below. If the 
house where he spoke were a one-story one, he would sit 
or stand in the doorway and the people were both inside 
and without. 



286 NOTES 

Note 19. Summer Houses and House Roofs in Pal- 
estine. 

A study of the house roofs of Galilee to-day gives us 
new light on the outdoor life of the ancient Galileans. 
They are flat, made of small poles covered with brush- 
wood and hardened clay. In springtime they often soften 
up and soak down into the house. It is easy to realize 
how men could climb up to them by the outside stairway 
and break them up when they wished to let their fellow 
sufferer down to where Jesus was. 

Each roof, according to the ancient law, has a battle- 
ment for the protection of those who may rest on the roof 
or those passing below. Where the houses are near to- 
gether it is possible to run from one roof to another, 
which gave rise to the saying, " Tell it upon the house- 
tops.'' 

Over the door, close to the ceiling, two or three small 
holes are sometimes left for smoke to pass out in weather 
which requires that the house door be shut. Chimneys 
are unknown. 

Upon these roofs the people to-day often build shelters 
of green branches, which are open to the air but not to 
the sun. It was in such booths that the Israelites of the 
time of Jesus spent the Feast of Tabernacles, and it has 
been conjectured that seeing such summer shelters at 
Caesarea, where they are common to-day, suggested to 
Peter his wish to build three such " tabernacles '' for 
Jesus, Moses and Elijah. The housetop thus was to Jesus 
the place of quiet thought and prayer and of converse 
with his friends. His talk with Nicodemus, with its 
reference to the springtime breeze, may well have been 
upon a Jerusalem house roof. 

Note 20. From the Mount of Beatitudes to Capernaum 

The twin peaks of Kurn Hattin, a dozen miles south- 
west of the supposed Capernaum, are commonly believed 
to be the mountain where Jesus spoke the Beatitudes. 
They are accessible to all lower Galilee, and the view from 



NOTES 287 

the top commands the chief places of Jesus' Galilean 
ministry. 

Here, where Jesus spoke His words of peace, was 
fought, in 1182, the last battle between the Crusaders 
and the Saracens, when the Christian kingdom of Judea 
passed away. The steep cleft in the range between the 
mountain and the Lake is called the Valley of the Pigeons, 
because of the multitude of pigeons that make their nests 
m its walls. Just beyond it is Magdala. The level place 
beyond, on the northwestern shore of Galilee, is the Plain 
of Gennesaret. Somewhere on that curve of shore lay 
Capernaum and Bethsaida, long vanished and lost. 
^ Up through that gorge, which Herod just before Jesus' 
time had cleared of a nest of robbers, and through the 
fertile grain fields, Jesus must have often walked to the 
grassy slopes of his favorite mountain retreat. Here the 
Twelve and the multitudes gathered at his bidding. This 
is probably also that " mountain in Galilee '' where he is 
said to have appeared after the resurrection. 

Note 21. Nain and Mount Tabor in Galilee 

The little village of Nain would never have been heard 
of if Jesus had not performed a deed of mercy near it. 
It lies up in the hill country a long way west of Caper- 
naum and south of Nazareth. It nestles on the north- 
western slope of the range of Little Hermon, and looks 
across the valley at Mount Tabor, the most beautiful hill 
m the Holy Land. Find it on your map, and note its 
relation to other familiar places in Galilee. 

^ It is always easy enough to recognize Mount Tabor,, 
rising, a perfect cone, out yonder to the northeast. There 
Barak quartered his army, and in that plain below van- 
quished Sisera. The Sea of Galilee lies a few miles away 
to the right of Tabor, and Mount Hermon, sixty miles 
away in the same direction. Nazareth is about seven miles 
due north, or to the left of Tabor. This town of Nain is 
near the road over the hills between Nazareth and Jeru- 
salem. The Damascus road passed around to the left of 



288 NOTES 

Tabor, but did not touch this little town. Two miles 
away on the road to the Sea of Galilee is Endor. Just 
over the hill behind us (Little Hermon) is the place 
where Jesus saw the shepherds watching their flocks. 
Nain, too, has a sheepfold, a ruined courtyard, where 
sometimes a woman, with her children around her, may be 
regarded as '' the porter of the sheep." Only about 
twenty Moslem houses mark this site of little side-tracked 
Nain, which was probably never larger, and the only 
substantial building in the place is the Greek church, 
which commemorates the one golden deed that gives to 
Nain its interest. 

The road from the Jordan over which Jesus came on 
His way from the prosperous cities to the isolated hill 
towns, to perform His miracle, lies away to the east of 
this village. There is a hill behind and to our right 
pierced with many rock-hewn tombs, and there our 
Savior met the wailing procession and the broken- 
hearted widow outside the village and gave her back 
her boy. 

Note 22. The Fishermen^s Boats of Galilee 

The entire circuit of the lake is only thirty-five miles. 
Josephus said the population around its shore was one 
hundred and fifty thousand. Bethsaida was on the north- 
east shore, the Gadarene region was east and southeast 
of the lake. We can look across the lake from near the 
western shore in front of Tiberias clear to the Gadarene 
coast. We have learned something of each side of the 
lake, except the southern, which does not appear in the 
history of Jesus. 

This Lake of Galilee is six hundred and eighty-two feet 
below sea level, and has a tropical climate with the most 
sudden and dangerous storms. The boats are, therefore, 
built broad of beam and with easily shifted sails. Some 
of the parables were spoken from the prow of such boats 
as those of the present to men who were as rugged as 
the Galilean fishermen of to-day. It was in as frail a 



NOTES 289 

craft as these, on this very lake, that the wearied and in- 
domitable Jesus slept until His disciples, used to such 
storms as they were, awoke Him in fright and implored 
His aid. Such boats were His ferry across the lake for 
works of mercy or periods of rest, and often Jesus helped 
hoist such sails or labored with Andrew and Peter at the 
long, slender oars. The fact that Jesus seems to have 
been regarded as the captain whenever he was aboard 
makes legitimate the inference in the third chapter that 
he w^as an excellent sailor and that his seamanship was 
learned when he was a youth at Nazareth. He learned 
how to catch fish, too, probably with both the hand-net 
and the boat-net. Seines were unlawful in these waters. 

Note 23. The Northwest Shore of the Lake of Gali- 
lee as seen from near Bethsaida 

The highland at the extremity of the plain of Genne- 
saret, between its ruined towns and Bethsaida, gives the 
remarkable view westward of the chief scenes of Jesus- 
Galilean ministry such as was visible to those who fol- 
lowed Jesus to Bethsaida. See the map. In the distance 
are the mountains of Galilee. The great rent through the 
nearer mountain is the valley of the Pigeons, and through 
that valley we can see the traditional Mount of Beatitudes, 
upon which we stood (see Note 20) and looked down to 
this shore. Jesus' boyhood home, Nazareth, lies about 
twenty-five miles away beyond those mountains directly 
before us. Capernaum is supposed to have been situated 
on the shore somewhere behind us, the place where Jesus 
came to make His home for a whole year, the second year 
of His ministry. Chorazin was located up in the hills. 
What prophecy of Jesus has since then been fulfilled? 

The feeding of the Five Thousand was upon such a 
strand and hillside as this. It was probably on a similar 
stretch of shore a few miles behind us near the entrance 
of the Jordan into the lake. We catch here the situation 
and the view which Jesus could have had in looking 
towards this shore from the " mountain '' where He spent 



290 NOTES "^ 

that night in prayer ; we are looking upon the shore where 
Jesus and His disciples landed the next morning. 

Note 24. Tyre To-day 

The journey of Jesus from Capernaum to Tyre and its 
location should be studied on the map.* Little does it look 
to-day as Jesus saw it. 

It can best be seen across the bay from a quay looking 
toward the shore and the east. This town was once the 
Venice of ancient times, the mistress of the seas. A 
ruined breakwater and some broken pillars are about all 
there is of it now, for the ancient prophecies have been 
fulfilled, and it is now only ^^ a place for the spreading 
of nets.^' From the forests of Lebanon, through which 
Jesus came, were cut the cedars for Solomon^s Temple by 
Hiram, and floated to Joppa from this port. You can 
see two sections of the ancient wall, and round columns 
in the water, black with moss, that long before Christ 
supported graceful arches and magnificent palaces. Paul 
came here on his last visit to Jerusalem, and somewhere 
on this strand the Syrian disciples knelt and prayed with 
him at his departure across yonder waters to the south. 

Note 25. The Approach to Mount Hermon 

Jesus approached Caesarea Philippi and Mount Her- 
mon from Capernaum. His first view of both was, as 
the map shows, looking north. At the bottom of a deep 
gorge south of the city runs a stream that is one of the 
sources of the Jordan, which near here starts on its south- 
ward course. This brook, the clearest and most beautiful 
of the Jordan sources, proceeds from one of the largest 
springs in the world, bounding forth from it in full flood, 
able to sweep away horse and rider if they should fall 
over this low wall. The round knobs that project from 
the town wall to-day are columns from an older building 
thrust in to patch this structure, which was built in the 
time of the crusade by Turkish captives under the last of 
the Christian conquerors. 



NOTES 291 

Mount Hermon " the sacred/' whose lower slopes are 
close to the village gate, is the only mountain in Palestine 
that is snow-crowned all the year. It rises nine thousand 
feet above the sea. From its summit Jesus could see to 
the east Damascus, to the south all the scenes of his min- 
istry, to the west the Mediterranean. 

How beautiful it must have been to have rested alone 
with Jesus on that mountain side ! 

Up the path that now enters the ruined village Jesus 
probably passed with the twelve; yonder crest may as 
well as any other be the scene of the vision, and it may 
have been waiting where now stands the village gate that 
the father sought in vain for the disciples left behind and 
for his demoniac boy, to whom Jesus came with ready 
aid in what someone has beautifully called " the trans- 
figuration in the valley.^' 

Mighty as was the fortress of Caesarea, noble as was 
yonder snow clad peak, their associations to-day are en- 
tirely with this one visit of the Galilean Teacher. 

Note 26. The Parable of the Good Samaritan 

It is startling to find that not only are the scenes of 
Palestine to-day the same, and the activities again being 
reenacted as in Jesus' day, but that even the deeds men- 
tioned in his parables or stories still occur. The student 
will be glad of one such evidence of the essentially pictur- 
esque and personal character of the Master's parables. 
At several times during His ministry Jesus was in Jericho . 
near the scene of His earlier temptations, and now when 
he came up from Perea he passed along the dangerous 
roadway from the Jordan to Jerusalem. The Parable of 
the Good Samaritan, which is undated, may have been 
spoken after his first visit to Jericho, Jerusalem and 
Samaria, and so have been suggested by all these places, 
and even by some recent actual occurrences, for thefts 
were constantly occurring there, as they are even to this 
day. For it was a life-like character study of the typical 



292 NOTES 

priest and Levite of Jerusalem, and Jesus laad found ir^ 
Sychar of Samaria that there were really " good ^^ Samari- 
tans. A traveler who goes to-day down this very Jericho 
road will still take a chieftain to prevent being robbed, 
and he may be sure that the chief himself and his com- 
panions are also actually robbers, because the distinction 
between a guide and robber in this vicinity is still usually 
that of the same man when in and out of paid employ- 
ment. With the substitution of donkeys for horses, the 
modern victim would have in costumes, faces and even in 
leathern wine-bottle the impression to the eye which Jesus 
gave to the mind when He told this story, 

Note 27. Modern Bethany 

Bethany, like Bethlehem and Nazareth, is on a hill- 
slope. It is now a wretched, squalid place. Down to the 
east runs the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho. 
Far to the south stretches the way of the wilderness. 
Naturally the largest ruin in the town, two ruined towers 
at the south end, are pointed out as the house of Simon 
^he leper, and the largest open ruin in the heart of the 
village is said to be the house of Mary and Martha. In 
and near Bethany to-day one still sees on the woman's 
brow the chain of coins from which the ^^ one piece of 
silver,'' in Jesus' parable, spoken near by, was men- 
tioned as being lost. On the sunny southern slope of 
Olivet one will also still get a fine impression of an 
orchard of figs, standing near the site, perhaps, of the 
very one that Jesus looked to with disappointment when 
he was walking from Bethany into Jerusalem. Bethany 
was probably named for its orchards, for it means " house 
of dates." The town has no history apart from Jesus, 
and nothing unique except the terraced walls that sur- 
round it. Lazarus' tomb is pointed out in the middle of 
the village, but the ancient rock tombs are further east 
beside the road. 



NOTES 293 

Note 28. The Scenes of the Jerusalem Miracles 

The miracles in Jerusalem were few, and, so thorough 
has been the destruction of the city, that the site of but 
one is now known. This is the Pool of Siloam. This an- 
cient pool is south of the city in the Valley of the Kedron 
and fed from the so-called Fountain of the Virgin up tha 
valley. The present surrounding wall was built three 
centuries ago by Sultan S oilman, but there is little change 
in the appearance from Jesus' time except that it was 
once less neglected and the water was more fresh and 
clean than now. In Nehemiah's day the pool was well 
known, for it was being repaired then, and in King 
David's time it lay in the midst of the Royal Garden, just 
below Solomon's palace. Across the valley is the village 
of Siloam, where Solomon built a temple of idols under' 
the caves of Mount Moriah. Only a few rods south of it 
is the Hill of Evil Counsel, where Judas is said to have 
plotted, and at its foot is the Potter's Field, bought with 
the price of his treachery. This pool is lined with maiden- 
hair fern and blossoms. Its waters flow out, and, after 
having been used by the city washerwomen, irrigate the 
gardens below, where once were the pleasant resting places 
of the Hebrew kings. A Christian church later stood over 
this pool. One of its broken pillars can still be seen in 
the water. Women still come with water pots from 
Siloam and Jerusalem and use its befouled water for 
drinking purposes. There is, therefore, as in the blind 
man's day, always some curious spectator on the path or 
climbing down the steep steps into the pool. How vivid 
the story all seems even now! Dr. Hurlbut puts it this 
way: 

" How pitiful he must have looked, staff in hand, pick- 
ing his path through the streets of the city ! ' Here, blind 
man, let me wipe off those spatters of dirt ! ' ^ No ; leave 
them alone, the Master put them there, and I am going 
to wash them off in the Pool of Siloam. Can you show 
me the way ? ' That was his cross, his confession of 
Christ, a confession that every one must make in some 



294 NOTES 

way, if he would be saved. Can you not see him slowly 
walking down that path, tapping with his staff the rocks 
on either side as he goes? Look at him clambering down 
those steep stone steps ! Now he has reached the Pool. 
See him dipping up the water with his hands and washing 
oif those brown earth stains from his face ! Now he looks 
up with a startled, amazed expression. A light flashes 
from those eyeballs, no longer white as of old. The man 
can see I How strange the new sense of sight must have 
seemed to him ! No doubt, from force of habit he shut his 
eyes, over and over again, and felt his way along the path 
as of old.'' 

Note 29. Blessing Children To-day 

It is a common sight in the Holy Land now to see a 
modern Greek teacher of Jesus' gospel giving his blessing 
to a group of children in the very village where Samuel 
was a child, and in which it is possible that Jesus blessed 
the baby ancestors of these little ones twenty centuries 
ago. We do not look for aught that shall remind us of 
the Master in the genial, dark-skinned ecclesiastic with 
his queer clerical cap and cloak and his prayer beads, nor 
do we find in the mothers' faces the reverence and eager- 
ness with which the mothers of old brought their littlq 
ones to Jesus. But it has always been true in Canaan, 
since the days of the patriarchs, and even until now, that 
the blessing of a good father or teacher has been felt to 
have prophetic and protecting power. If Jesus walked 
down Ramah's street^ mothers dressed probably like these 
of the present — for, as you see, each village seems to have 
and retain its local costume — came to greet Him; and 
children are always the same, and so when a loving 
mother lays upon the wrist of her squirming child an 
amulet, while other stolid babies with not over-clean f ace^ 
sucking their thumbs peep in interested attitudes around 
the corner while the priest mumbles his benediction, they 
may remain for us typical of the children of Jesus' day. 



NOTES 295 

Note 30. Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 

Let us suppose ourselves standing beside Jesus on the 
Mount of Olives, and let us so master the marvelous scene 
before us, that we may carry with us through life an 
accurate and vivid knowledge of the place where those 
remarkable events in the last days of Jesus' life occurred. 
Turn to your Bible Dictionary map of Jerusalem and 
locate all these places. Just this side of the eastern wall, 
but just beyond our vision at the right, is the probable 
site of the pool of Bethesda, and the utmost reach of our 
vision at the right includes the Damascus gate on the 
north by which Jesus entered the city from Nazareth. 
Calvary is at its north, a few rods away. Some distance 
down the valley beyond our vision limit on the left is the 
Pool of Siloam. Bethany is behind us, and Bethlehem 
five miles to the southwest. Below us is the modern seven- 
domed Russian Church, and beyond it, far down at the 
right, Gethsemane. Across the valley and under the city 
wall you see innumerable graves, once a Mohammedan 
cemetery. In the wall, almost in the middle of our range 
of vision and very close to where we were standing when 
we first looked from the eastern wall (see Note 12), is an 
elevation having a double arch under it. It is the Golden 
Gate, which the Turks have walled up because they be- 
lieve that a conqueror, of the Christian faith, will some 
time enter here and dispossess them! 

Through this gate the Mohammedans also believe the 
good will pass in to Paradise, after having crossed the 
Kedron " on that bridge which is sharper than the sharp- 
est sword.'' 

It was through the gate at this spot, you remember, 
that Jesus often passed on His way from or to Bethany. 
The portion of the city nearest us is the Mohammedan 
quarter which includes the Temple site; beyond it at the 
right in the Christian quarter is the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre. The Jewish and Armenian quarters are at 
our left, and beyond the Temple area. 

The large enclosure just beyond the wall, longer from 



296 NOTES 

north to south, is the place of the Temple enclosure, and 
the octagonal building, '^ The Dome of the Rock " (wrong- 
ly called the Mosque of Omar), stands where stood the 
Temple. On that plateau Abraham laid Isaac on the 
altar; that was Araunah^s threshing floor which David 
bought for an altar place; before that altar Solomon 
stood, and Hezekiah prayed, and Isaiah beheld his glori- 
ous vision. There stood the second Temple, built by the 
returning exiles. There Christ came as a boy of twelve 
to question with the doctors, to drive out the money- 
changers, and at many other times. Around the Dome 
you see fountains and praying places. The Temple en- 
closure on the south was, perhaps, a little north of where 
we see it now. On the west it was probably bounded by 
the huge stones which now constitute the Jews' Wailing 
Place. In the extreme right-hand corner of the enclosure 
stands a tower on the site of the Tower of Antonia, where 
Paul was imprisoned and from whose staircase he ad- 
dressed the throng. Perhaps that is where Pontius Pilate 
lodged and where Jesus was brought to trial. At the right 
of the Dome, near the center of the city, are the white 
wall and dome of the newly restored Church of St. John, 
dedicated by the German Emperor in 1898. It was the 
site of the headquarters of a knightly order of the Crusa- 
ders. A short distance to the right of the church is the 
dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Away to 
the left is the Tower of David, the lower stones of the 
original structure being still in place, crowned by Macca- 
bean, Roman and modern layers. That tower, instead of 
the Tower of Antonia, may have been the palace of the 
Roman governor. All these places burst at once upon 
the vision of the people who surrounded Jesus when they 
came out on this ledge of the Mount of Olives. 

Solomon's own house and the royal courts once filled the 
space south of the wall at our left. Still farther south 
was the older part or " the city of David," and in that 
region stood the ark in its Tent of Meeting under David, 
and there tradition locates David's and Solomon's tombs. 



NOTES 297 

Solomon extended the wall around Mount Zion, the south- 
western hill, the Jewish and Armenian quarters of to-day, 
and there the increased population during his prosperity 
found its home. Ever since then the city has tended to 
grow continually north. 

It was down to our left, where the two valleys that 
bound the city, Jehosaphat or Kedron on the east, and 
Hinnom on the south, meet, that David caused Solomon 
to be hailed as king, and up this valley below us he rode 
on King David's mule and sat down on David's throne. 

It was of this historic occasion that the excited people 
were thinking when they hailed Jesus as " the Son of 
David." 

From where we stand the prevailing color, except at 
sunset, when it is purple, is gray, except " the Dome of 
the Rock," which is of a faint metallic green. The walls 
are gray with a touch of orange. The houses are gray 
with a touch of blue. Unwatered, unshaded, unhallowed, 
it has been described as to-day '^ a city of stone in a land 
of iron with a sky of brass." 

We go down into the valley now to study in a cosmo- 
politan holy feast throng of to-day the varied elements 
of the procession that followed Jesus. 

Note 31. Throngs that Come up to Jerusalem To-day 

The Mohammedans to-day counteract the influence of 
the great number of Christian pilgrims who come to 
Jerusalem before Easter by organizing Moslem pilgrim- 
ages to the reputed tomb of Moses, some distance from 
Jerusalem. The throngs that gather to-day among the 
old tombs on the slope outside the eastern wall of Jerusa- 
lem, on the very spot where the Passover throngs met 
Jesus on his way into the city, are as varied and cosmo- 
politan as those who then came up to the festival. And 
their appearance is much the same. True, here and there 
is a modern umbrella, carried by a continental tourist or a 
traveled Muslim, to keep off the hot April sun, but the 
flowing robes, the turbans, the loaded donkeys, look as 



298 NOTES 

they did two thousand years ago. Surely the women with 
unveiled faces are not Mohammedans. The languages 
spoken are as diverse as on the day of Pentecost. Here 
an old sheikh, who looks much as we think of Abraham, 
sits among his large family. There a woman stands erect 
— it is always a woman — under a burden half her bulk, 
poised upon her head. Another is bringing up the hill a 
filled water-pot upon her shoulder. Some are preparing 
lunch. Some are trading, some gossipping. All are wait- 
ing — for what ? Probably some petty detail of the week's 
celebration. But as w^e walk among them, the centuries 
disappear and we seem to be with those who wait for 
Jesus to ride down yonder hill and across the valley and 
up toward the Beautiful Gate of the temple. 

Note 32. The Mount of Olives from Jerusalem 

Not only is Jerusalem magnificently seen from the 
Mount of Olives, but the entire western slope of that 
mount is also clearly seen when one looks east from almost 
any elevated spot in the Holy City. 

Let us fancy ourselves clear across on the western side 
of the town. Even from there we can see the path down 
which Jesus rode, and we can also look into the heart of 
the city of to-day which stands on the ruins of the 
recreant Jerusalem of old. 

We are standing, let us say, on the flat roof of a large 
building, a hospice for religious pilgrims. It gives us an 
excellent view down into the ancient city itself. As we are 
in the Christian quarter, the nearer roofs are tiled and 
rather pointed, and not those flat surfaces which we saw 
in other places and which were universal here in Jesus^ 
day. But the stairways to the roofs and the upper rooms 
remind us that somewhere near by — tradition says to our 
right (south) half a mile, in what is now called the 
Coenaculum, or David's Tomb, — the disciples were prepar- 
ing twenty centuries ago to eat the Passover with Jesus. 

The blind house walls are so massively laid that in 
pacing the more solitary streets you seem to be threading 



NOTES 299 

the mazes of a liuge fortress. The streets are never 
straight for fifty rods. Though narrow and overhung by 
tlie houses and by many archways, the brilliantly draped 
Orientals coming out into the sun from the dark door- 
w^ays make a constant surprise of color. 

You discover, of course, the Church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, the large dome in front of us and to the left, built 
on the site which Constantine believed to be that of the 
tomb of Jesus; and the modern Church of St. John, off 
to the right, where it was believed St. John lived, to which 
place he took Mary after the crucifixion and where were 
the headquarters of the Knights of St. John in the Cru- 
sades. In the distance, beyond '' the Dome of the Hock," 
we can see the three paths that climb the Mount of Olives. 
Over the left one of these did David go when he went over 
the brook Kedron in flight from Absalom, and down a 
path farther to the right his greater Son rode on Monday 
of Passion Week. Over which of these roads did Jesus 
go most often those nights of the week when He went to 
Bethany to catch a brief rest with His best friends in His 
foster-home? And where on this mount, do you suppose, 
was delivered His mystic discourse about the last things? 

Imagine this mountain crowded with camping pilgrims, 
the cavalcade of Jesus, coming around onto yonder ledge 
of rock and thence descending the hill, and you get some 
idea of the excitement from one end of the city to the 
other when he rode in from Bethany on Sunday of Pas- 
sion Week. It did seem for an hour that the world had 
gone after him. 

Note 33. Gethsemane 

We have already located the little walled enclosure of 
Gethsemane in the Kedron valley just east of the gate in 
the eastern wall. 

You know just where you are, for you can see the 
Golden Gate and the long stone ramparts just across the 
Kedron, and you are probably looking at the spot where 
the ancient pathways entered the city and the Temple at 



300 NOTES 

its Beautiful Gate. Just where we stand at the eastern 
side is said to be the spot where Judas betrayed his Master 
with a kiss. 

This enclosure, only one hundred and fifty by one hun- 
dred and sixty feet, is just over the bridge that crosses 
Kedron and at the crossing of the roads that lead up to 
Olivet. We have looked down upon it before, and know 
that in addition to its eight gnarled and hoary olives, 
which date back to the seventh century, it contains some 
mournful cypresses. Apparently, the garden once ex- 
tended much farther up the valley, since it would seem 
that Jesus would have sought a more secluded spot for 
prayer; we are in its nearer and lower corner. The 
Romans are known to have cut down all the trees when 
they besieged the city, using many, perhaps some of the 
olives of Gethsemane for crosses for the stubborn Jews, 
but these are probably direct descendants and by only one 
remove from those which gave the garden the name of 
" Olive press.^' This enclosure is now tenderly cared for 
by the Latin Church and Franciscan friars, who, as you 
can see, cover every foot with flourishing blossoms and 
shrubs. 

Note 34. "The New Calvary" 

Recent Christian scholarship has turned somewhat from 
the site of the old Church of the Holy Sepulchre to some 
spot outside the city as the true place of the crucifixion. 
It is indeed startling to stand upon the housetop of an 
inn, that touches the edge of Jerusalem's northern wall, 
and find ourselves face to face with the bare, skull-like 
mound which has come of recent years to be accepted by 
the growing number of Christians as the true site of the 
crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The resemblance of the 
hill to a human skull is the most picturesque, though not 
the most convincing reason, for calling this Golgotha, 
" the place of the skull.'' But it may have been its use as 
a burial place rather than its shape that gave it its name. 
There are graves upon its summit, and the large opening 
at the right marks the so-called Tomb of Jeremiah. The 



NOTES 301 

Jewish law (Lev. 1:10, 11) did name the place of execu- 
tion as " northward.^^ The early Jewish writings tell us 
that this hill had long been a place for the execution of 
criminals, and received the name " Place of Stoning." 
A reputable Christian guide told Dr. Hurlbut that the 
place has long been especially hateful to the Jews of the 
city, who always utter a curse when they pass it, though 
they know not why, and that their words translated are, 
" Cursed be the man who ruined our nation by calling 
Himself King." This place is also, as we know Calvary 
was once, a garden outside the city and beside a public 
way, the Damascus road. Beside that road, beyond the 
hill on the left, sleeps the Queen Helena, the mother of 
Constantine, who believed that she discovered in Jeru- 
salem the true cross and our Lord's sepulcher. Whether it 
be the veritable Golgotha or not, it certainly does give to 
the eye a reality of conception of the scenes of the Pas- 
sion, for which one is grateful in a land where so many 
sacred spots have been concealed by obscuring shrines 
and buildings. 

At the end of an enclosed garden at the bottom of the 
cliff is a small entrance to a tomb, hollowed out of the 
rock, which has been believed by General Charles Gordon 
and many others to be the very tomb in Joseph's garden 
in which the body of Jesus was laid. 

Note 35. The So-called **Tomb of Our Lord'* at 
** The New Calvary " 

Only one burial place was ever completed here, altho 
two others were left unfinished, and there is room for 
the forms of two angels, " one at the head and the other 
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." 

Standing here within a few rods of the place where 
Jesus was crucified, and looking into such a new-made 
tomb as that in which Joseph laid Jesus, if not the very 
one, can we realize the feelings of Mary and the women, 
of John and Peter, as they came hastily through the 
garden that Easter dawn and wondered at the unsealed 



302 NOTES 

and open tomb and then turned in grief and went away, 
to find, each in his own time, the risen Lord"? 

A little northwest of this spot is a vast system of 
sepulchral eaves which were used as tombs. Here at the 
opening of one of them may be still seen a great round 
flat stone and the groove below in which it has been rolled 
when the sepulcher was closed. The stone must be very 
heavy. When it rolls forward, too, it goes down an in- 
cline and drops into a niche. To roll it in its channel, and 
.especially to roll it away from the tomb entrance, would 
require the strength of two men, and would be far beyond 
the power of women like those who came to the entrance 
of Jesus' tomb. Moreover, when shut, the tomb could be 
easily sealed, as we know our Lord's tomb was sealed when 
the watch was set. 

Note 36. Where Did Jesus Meet the Disciples by the 
Lake? 

It has been customary to suppose that Jesus met his 
friends at the retired place on the northeast shore, where 
he withdrew with them when he fed the five thousand. 

Just here in this quiet cove is the spot pointed outi 
where the seven disciples had been all night fishing, and 
where Jesus met them and welcomed them with the break- 
fast which He had caught and cooked with His own 
hands. From this shore, as we saw from a preceding 
standpoint (see Note 23), you can see, through the cleft 
hills at the west, the Mount of Beatitudes ; and where else 
should be the ^^ mountain in Galilee where the Lord had 
appointed them," upon which He should speak their 
world-wide commission, but this one where He had first 
proclaimed the laws of His kingdom and from which He 
could see almost all the scenes of His ministry ! Thus the 
ministry, which began in Galilean homes in Nazareth and 
Capernaum by this lake, and wandered at times to Judea, 
Samaria, Tyre, Decapolis and Caesarea Philippi and 
which culminated at Jerusalem, completed its circuit by 
this last return to the lake in Galilee, which had been its 
center all these years. 



THE LEADING EVENTS IN THE 

LIFE OF JESUS THE KING 

WITH APPROXIMATE 

DATES 



THE LEADING EVENTS IN THE LIFE 

OF JESUS THE KING WITH 

APPROXIMATE DATES 

After Stevens and Burton 

THE BOY SOLDIER; in his Home 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem — Christmas, B. C. 5. 
He was exiled to Egypt — Late winter, B. C. 4. 
He came to Nazareth to live — Sometime between 
B. C. 2 and A. D. 4. 

He visited his Capital — April, A. D. 7. 

THE OPENING CAMPAIGN : 

He was consecrated in the River Jordan — Summer 
of A. D. 26. 

He fought the Battle of the Wilderness, with his 
great Adversary — immediately afterward. 

He chose his first recruits. 

He cleansed his Capital — April, A. D. 27. 

He helped John, his ally in Judea and Samaria, 
April to December, A. D. 27. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN GALILEE : With the People 

He lived among his People at Capernaum, Decem- 
ber, A. D. 27, to the Summer, A. D. 28. 

He chose his Generals and issued the Great Procla- 
mation to his People — Early summer, A. D. 28. 

He gave a Supper to his People by the Lake and 
refused an earthly crown, March, A. D. 29. 

He retreated into Phoenicia and northern Galilee, 
April to September, A. D. 29. 

He was seen in his real Glory on Mount Hermon — • 
Autumn, A. D. 29. 



306 LEADING EVENTS 

THE CAMPAIGN IN PEREA : With his Generals 

He trained his Generals to extend his Kingdom 
—November; A. D. 29, to April, A. D. 30. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN JERUSALEM : 

With his Enemies 

The King entered his Capital in triumph, April 2, 
A. D. 30. 

He was rejected by his Enemies and betrayed by 
one of his Generals, April 6, A. D. 30. 

He conquered the last Enemy, April 7, A. D. 30. 

His Kingdom began its eternal victory. 



INDEX 



INDEX 

Abraham, 34, 41, 61, 89, 284. 

Andrew, 75, 115, 136, 155. 

Annas, see Hanan. 

Annunciation, The, 54. 

Anointing of Jesus by a sinner, 125; by Mary of Beth- 
any, 195. 

Apostles, The, 112 ; called, 113, 118 ; sent out, 120 ; speak, 
135; oppose Jesus, 138; speak, 154; misunderstand 
Jesus, 155, 164, 200, 222, 223; mentioned, 177, 190, 
195, 205; commended, 216; promise loyalty, 225; 
saved by Jesus, 235; forsake Jesus, 237; gather after 
the resurrection, 259; go forth as missionaries, 262. 

Baptism, 63, 64, 67, 278, 280. 

Bar Abbas, 248, 249. 

Barak, 24, 287. 

Beatitudes, The, 117, 121, 138, 259. 

Beatitudes, Mount of, 113, 116; described, 286. 

Bethany, 186, 187, 195, 200, 217, 281, 292, 293. 

Bethlehem, 28, 54, 170; described, 268. 

Bethsaida, Day at, 133; Jesus after the resurrection at, 

302. 
Boats, 52, 100, 102, 133, 134, 282. 
Boy, at Bethsaida, 136 ; at Capernaum, 146 ; at Caesarea, 

160; blessed by Jesus, 179. 
Boys in the temple, 208. 
Bread of Life, 141. 
Brothers of Jesus, 19, 57, 97, 142, 169, 187, 200. 

Caesar, Julius, 172. 
Caesarea Philippi, 153, 286. 
Caiaphas, 154, 172, 210, 217, 237, 242. 



310 INDEX 

Calvary, see Golgotha. 

Camping out, 38, 68, 78, 119, 121. 

Cana, 80, 119. 

Capernaum, 59; described, 83, 100, 111; home of Jesus, 

99, 104; mentioned, 98, 140, 146, 149, 153, 187, 287. 
Carmel, Mount, 22, 38. 
Carpenter work, 52, 53, 54, 57, 156, 167. 
Centurion, of Capernaum, 140, 146, 147; at Jerusalem, 

171; at the Cross, 255. 
Children blessed by Jesus, 179, 294. 
Christ, see Jesus. 

Cleansing of the Temple, 84, 208. 
Clothing described, 17, 18, 61, 158, 201, 254. 
Coins, 17, 84, 212, 214, 219, 272. 
Crucifixion, The, 251. 
Cross used at Passover, 46; mentioned by Jesus, 157; 

borne by Jesus, 251. 

Damascus, 148. 

Dates in Jesus' life, 305, 306. 

David, 25, 34, 56, 170; Jesus' ancestor, 27, 56; Jesus 

hailed as successor of, 208. 
Dead Sea, The, 59, 71, 279. 
Deborah, 24. 
Decapolis, 104, 149, 259. 
Desert, The, 61, 68, 69, 278. 
Disciples, The, of Jesus, 112; see Apostles. 
Disciples, The, of John, 59, 63, 74, 124, 126, 131, 132. 
" Dome of the Rock, The," Jerusalem, 276, 277, 296, 297, 

299. 

Elijah, 22, 24, 100, 154, 278, 280; at the Transfiguration, 

159. 
Elisha, 38, 159, 280. 
Esdraelon, Plain of, 22, 37, 121, 274; described, 273. 

Farmers mentioned, 37. 

Feasts, see Temple, Passover, Harvest, 297. 

Feeding of the Five Thousand, 135, 289. 



INDEX 311 

Fishers of Capernaum, 59, 74, 111, 118, 143, 144. 

Fishing, 52, 259, 282, 288, 289, 302. 

Flowers, 37, 133. 

Food described, 53, 136, 260. 

Fountain at Nazareth, 17, 272. 

Funeral, a game, 20. 

Furniture described, 53, 179. 

Galilee, 95, 275, 282; Jesus' ministry in, described, 102; 
rejects Jesus, 141; mentioned, 150, 172, 204, 244. 

Galilee, Lake of, described, 83, 133, 139, 282, 288, 302; 
storms upon, 102, 139 ; Jesus beside, after the resurrec- 
tion, 259. 

Games, 17. 

Gerizim, Mount, 40, 92, 284. 

Gethsemane, 232, 281; described, 299, 300. 

Gideon, 22. 

Gilboa, Mount, 23, 26, 38. 

Gilead, 22. 

Golgotha, 251, 300. 

Good Samaritan, Parable of the, 291, 292. 

Gospels, of Matthew, 109, 262; Mark, 12; John, 262. 

Greeks, 37, 148, 207. 

Hanan, 171, 217, 227, 236. 
Harvest feast, 188. 
Heber, 24. 

Hermon, Mount, 21, 153, 290, 291. 
Herod Antipas, 123, 135, 169, 244. 
Herod the Great, 280. 
Herod Philip, 153, 154, 282. 
Herodians, 211. 
Herodias, 123. 

Heroism of Jesus, see Jesus, Heroism of. 
Holidays, 17, 33, 52 ; see Feasts. 
Holy Land, 274; see also map opposite 267. 
Houses described, 19, 29, 53, 104, 179, 180, 269, 272, 285, 
286. 



312 INDEX 

Isaiah quoted, 27, 73, 97. 

Jacob, 40. 

Jacob's Well, 41, 89; described, 283. 

Jairus' daughter healed, 109. 

James, mentioned with John. 

Jehu, 23. 

Jericho, 279. 

Jerusalem, journey to described, 36, 203; city described, 
42, 276, 293, 295, 298; mentioned, 151, 165, 169, 170, 
199; Jesus' entry into, 200; aroused at the death of 
Jesus, 252; its destruction prophesied, 215. 

Jesus Christ, annunciation of, 54; birth of, 54; name of, 
19 ; at play, 17 ; at school, 31 ; going first to Jerusalem, 
36, 44; the carpenter, 51; baptism of, 61; temptation 
of, 66 ; called the Lamb of God, 64, 76 ; calling his first 
friends, 74 ; at the wedding at Cana, 80 ; first cleansing 
of the temple, 85; talks with Nicodemus, 88; ministers 
in Judea, 89, 95; in Samaria, 89; in Galilee, 95; first 
rejected at Nazareth, 96; at Cana, 119; removal of 
home to Capernaum, 99 ; calls four disciples, 100 ; tours 
Galilee, 101, 119; a day of miracles, 101; chooses the 
Twelve, 113; gives the Beatitudes, 116; heals a leper, 
118 ; sends out the Twelve, 119 ; at the Pharisee's dinner 
is anointed, 125; sends message to John, 127; feeds 
the five thousand, 136; is rejected in Galilee, 141; goes 
to Phenicia, 143; to Decapolis, 149; to Caesarea, 153; 
calls forth a confession from Peter, 155; is transfig- 
ured, 158; moves toward Jerusalem, 162; sends out the 
Seventy, 166; goes to the harvest feast at Jerusalem, 
169; lodging at Bethany, 187; teaches the Lord's 
Prayer, 190; teaches in the temple, 172; is driven 
from the city, 177; blesses children, 179; raises Laza- 
rus, 194; teaches the Twelve in places apart, 177, 
178; is anointed at Bethany, 196; enters Jerusalem in 
triumph, 199; receives the Greeks, 207; the boys, 208; 
his enemies, 209; watches the widow's gift, 214; 
prophesies the end of Jerusalem, 215; celebrates the 



INDEX 313 

Passover, 217; institutes the Lord^s Supper, 228; 
prays in Gethsemane, 232; is betrayed and arrested, 
235, 236; is tried before Caiaphas, 237; the Sanhedrin, 
238; Pilate, 242; Herod, 245; Pilate, 246; is crucified, 
251; rises from the dead, 258; appears in Galilee, 259; 
is alive forevermore, 263. 

Jesus, Character of: ruggedness, 77; kin'^liness, 54; 
charm, 18, 29, 81, 101, 122; industry, 54; fidelity, 52, 
55, 73, 156, 233; courage, see Heroism; helpfulness, 
94, 111; intellectual ability, 208; interest in history, 
21, 34, 39; interest in books, 34; interest in man, 90, 
168 ; patriotism, 55, 137, 148, 203 ; wide sympathy, 118, 
126, 132, 134, 137, 146, 147, 161, 162, 182, 214; love, 
112, 132, 162, 182, 186; magnanimity, 253, 254; in- 
terest in worship, 43, 44, 84; love of God, 28, 49. 

Jesus, Heroism of. Instances : in daily fidelity, 57 ; at the 
temptations, 66; in self-effacement at Cana, 81; in 
cleansing the temple, 86; in chivalry to sinners, 91; in 
facing foes at Nazareth, 99; in the storm, 102; before 
a maniac, 103; in refusing an earthly crown, 138; in 
facing death, 152, 164, 215 ; in facing his foes at Jeru- 
salem, 169, 175, 177, 192, 207 ; in riding into Jerusalem, 
204; in rebuking the leaders, 213; in singing at the 
Kedron, 230 ; in the Garden, 233 ; in speaking the truth 
at the cost of his life, 238 ; at his death, 253. 

Jezebel, 22, 28. 

Jezreel, see Esdraelon. 

John the Baptist, announced, 58 ; described, 61 ; preaches, 
62, 63 ; baptizes Jesus, 64 ; his relations with Jesus, 66, 
67, 127, 132; tempted, 74, 123, 128; his limitations, 78, 
127; sees Jesus for the last time, 83; imprisoned, 89, 
123; sends inquiries to Jesus, 124; receives reply from 
Jesus, 127; estimate of by Jesus, 127; murdered, 128; 
mentioned, 154, 210, 278. 

John the Evangelist, described, 75; comes to Jesus, 76; 
has a home in Jerusalem, 88; mentioned, 87, 93, 110, 
118, 119, 155, 157, 193, 219; called, 115; seeks vi^e- 



314 INDEX 

royalty, 163, 164, 212; angry, 166; at the Lord's Sup- 
per, 223; at the trial of Jesus, 237; at the cross, 254; 
adopts Jesus' mother, 257; with Jesus after the resur- 
rection, 260; tells Jesus' life, 262; on Patmos, 75. 

John Mark, see Mark. 

Jonathan, 26. 

Joppa, 267, 268. 

Jordan, The, 22, 59, 71, 89, 177, 184, 278, 280. 

Joseph of Arimathea, 256. 

Joseph the Prince, 39, 40, 98, 141. 

Joseph of Nazareth, 19, 33, 40, 46; death of, 52. 

Joshua the Leader of Israel, 19, 40, 159, 284. 

Josiah, 23. 

Journeys of Jesus, 275. 

Judas Iscariot, 114, 115, 120, 138, 142, 197; betrays 
Jesus, 205, 217, 227, 234; remorse of, 240; suicide of, 
241. 

Judea described, 41; Jesus in, 95; mentioned, 150, 283. 

Kedron, 70, 230, 281, 297. 

Kingdom of God, expected, 28; announced, 61, 105; its 
character, 70, 72, 81, 94, 117, 132, 135, 138, 163, 204, 
209; accepted and reigned over by Jesus, 55, 69, 167, 
263; worldwide, 148, 215. 

Kishon River, 24, 37. 

Lamb of God, The, 64, 76. 

Law, see Teachers, and Old Testament. 

Lazarus, 188, 199. 

Lebanon, 148. 

Leper healed, 116. 

Lepers described, 284. 

Lord's Prayer, The, given, 190. 

Lord's Supper, The, instituted, 228. 

Magi, The, 55. 

Maniac restored, 103 ; becomes a missionary, 104, 259. 

Mark, 12, 220, 221, 230, 232. 



INDEX 315 

Martha, 189, 219. 

Mary the mother of Jesus, 19, 29, 33, 34, 65; teaches 
Jesus, 34; finds Jesus in tlie temple, 49, 50; her daily 
life, 53; tells Jesus of his future, 54, 55; attends wed- 
ding at Cana, 81 ; removes her home to Capernaum, 82 ; 
mentioned, 97, 142, 200, 252, 254; at the cross, 254; 
goes to live with John, 257. 

Mary the mother of Jude and James, 120, 252. 

Mary Magdalene, 120, 252. 

Mary of Bethany, 189. 

Matthew, 101, 108, 120, 155, 262. 

Messiah, The, promised, 28; Jesus thinks of himself as, 
65; Jesus acknowledged as, by Peter, 155; also 72, 75, 
155. 

Moab, 64, 123, 177. 

Moses, referred to, 34, 46, 141, 154; at the Transfigura- 
tion, 159. 

Mothers, 34, 183. 

Nain, 119, 287. 

Napoleon, 172. 

Nathaniel, 88, 155. 

Nazareth described, 17, 21, 34, 54, 270; rejects Jesus, 95. 

Nicodemus, 47, 83, 172, 237, 256. 

Old Testament, studied by Jesus, 32, 51; mentioned, 150, 

177.- 
Olives, Mount of, 9, 59, 295, 298. 

Palace at Jericho, 71; at Tiberias, 83; at Caesarea Phil- 

ippi, 21; at Jerusalem, 236, 240. 
Palestine, see Holy Land. 
Parables, 174, 291, 292. 
Paralytic cured, 105. 
Passover described, 36, 44, 221, 222; attended by Jesus, 

36, 44, 83, 200, 227; mentioned, 134, 137, 142, 195, 196, 

200. 
Peter, described, 77; comes to Jesus, 77; speaks, 93, 141, 

145, 160, 163, 182, 229; Jesus uses his boat, 100; 



316 INDEX 

gives himself to Jesus, 101; mentioned, 12, 110, 
118, 119, 155, 157, 183, 219, 222; called, 114; opposes 
Jesus, 138; confesses the Messiah, 155; opposes Jesus, 
156; at the Lord's Supper, 223; defends Jesus, 234; 
at the trial of Jesus, 236 ; denies Jesus, 239 ; penitence 
of, 257; with Jesus after the resurrection, 260, 261; 
his vision at Joppa, 268. 

Perea, 166, 177, 184, 190. 

Pets, 19, 30. 

Pharisees described, 124; Simon one of the, 125; oppose 
Jesus, 150, 169, 209, 236; mentioned, 175; condemned 
by Jesus, 213. 

Phenicia, 142, 290. 

Philip, 135. 

Pilate, 242, 256. 

" Pinnacle of the Temple, The,'' 70, 200, 281. 

Playmates of Jesus, 17, 31, 36, 55, 59, 95, 99. 

Priests, 44, 45, 84, 169, 173, 199, 210. 

Prophets lef erred to, 27, 28, 33, 56, 62. 

Proverbs of the Jews, 34, 35. 

Psalms, 33, 42, 198, 203, 230, 231, 254. 

Resurrection, The, 259. 
Rich young man, 162. 
Roman empire. The, 56, 176. 
Roofs, 106, 107, 286. 

Sabbath, The, 151, 257. 

Sadducees, 151. 

Sailors, 143, 144. 

Salome, traditional name of Jesus' sister, 33. 

Salome, mother of John and James, 120, 164, 252. 

Salome, daughter of Herodias, 129. 

Samaria described, 39, 40; Jesus in, 39, 89, 166, 190; 
mentioned, 120, 150; visited by the Seventy, 166; re- 
jects Jesus, 166. 

Samuel, 41. 

Sanhedrin, The, 171, 210, 236, 238, 241. 



INDEX 31? 

Saul, 25, 41. 

Schools described, 31. 

Scriptures, see Old Testament. 

Sermon on the Mount, 115. 

Seventy, The, 166, 167. 

Shepherds, 37, 55, 273. 

Sidon, 143. 

Siloam, Pool of, 293. 

Simon the Leper, 195. 

Simon, see Peter. 

Simon the Pharisee, 125, 126. 

Simon the Zealot, 120. 

Singing, 25, 26, 34, 198, 200, 230. 

Sisera, 23, 287. 

Sisters of Jesus, 19, 33, 97. 

Socrates, 252, 253. 

Soldiers, 255; see also Centurion. 

Superscription on Jesus' cross, 251. 

Swords, 221, 225, 234. 

Synagogues described, 31, 96, 97. 

Syro-Phenician woman, 145. 

Tabernacles, 160; see Harvest. 

Tabor, Mount, 24, 287. 

Teachers of the law, 20, 47, 87, 150. 

Temple described, 42, 44, 47, 203; cleansed, 84, 208, 173; 
Feast of Rededication of, 176; Jesus preaches in, 173, 
177, 208; Jesus leaves, 213; veil rent, 256. 

Temple site, see " Dome of the Rock." 

Temptations of Jesus, 68, 140, 158, 281. 

Temptations of John the Baptist, 74, 123, 128. 

Thieves on the Cross, 254. 

Thomas, 120, 155, 192. 

Tiberias, 282, 288. 

Tomb of Jesus, 257, 301, 302. 

Transfiguration, The, 159, 291. 

Twelve, The, see Apostles. 

Tyre, 143, 147, 290. 



318 INDEX 

Unleavened bread, 45. 

Veil of the Temple, 45; rent, 256. 
Voice of God, The, 50, 152, 161. 

Water jars, mentioned, 18, 90, 93, 220, 223. 

Water of Life, 91, 141. 

Wedding, a game, 19 ; at Cana, 80, 283 ; parable of, 174, 

Widow, 214. 

Womanhood, 168, 252. 

Zacchaeus, 280. 



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